Alcohol and Dementia

Every time BrooklynDodger, now advancing in age, forgets something, certain people express concern about personal habits which may contribute to such lapses. Personal health advice should be evidenced based, so the following report is offered to illuminate such an issue.

The abstract is summarized below. [The full abstract is on medline.]

A cohort of 980 individuals aged 65 and older without dementia at
baseline from New York City [upper west side, not Brooklyn Heights]
were followed annually. After 4 years of follow-up, 260 individuals
developed dementia (199 AD, 61 DAS). Only intake of up to three daily servings
of wine was associated with a lower risk of AD (hazard ratio=0.55). Intake
of liquor, beer, and total alcohol was not associated with a lower risk of AD.

BrooklynDodger was unable to access the full text version
of this paper, so we are unable to comment on the dose response relationship for
this protective effect. Since the biological basis for Alzheimers is not
known, BrooklynDodger is not prepared to discuss the biological
plausibility of these observations.

J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004 Apr;52(4):540-6.

Alcohol intake and risk of dementia.

Luchsinger JA, Tang MX, Siddiqui M, Shea S, Mayeux R.Taub Institute for Research of Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, and Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.