Can Drinking Alcohol Improve Memory Later in Life?

Light alcohol consumption was associated with a heightened ability to recall memories of past events in people 60 years or older without dementia, and moderate alcohol consumption was linked to increased hippocampal volume, according to a recent study.

The study included data from over 660 patients who completed surveys on alcohol consumption and demographics, neuropsychological assessments, and the presence or absence of ApOE e4 (the genetic marker for Alzheimer’s disease), and MRI scans of their brains in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort.
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It showed that light and moderate alcohol consumption in older individuals, compared with late-life alcohol abstinence, is linked with greater volume of the hippocampus and increased episodic memory and had no impact on overall mental ability or executive function.

“There were no significant differences in cognitive functioning and regional brain volumes during late life according to reported midlife alcohol consumption status,” said Brian Downer, UTMB Sealy Center on Aging postdoctoral fellow and lead author of the study.

“This may be due to the fact that adults who are able to continue consuming alcohol into old age are healthier, and therefore have higher cognition and larger regional brain volumes, than people who had to decrease their alcohol consumption due to unfavorable health outcomes,” he said.

Investigators noted that extended periods of alcohol abuse—abuse is defined as 5 or more alcoholic beverages in 1 occasion—is still proven to be harmful to brain function.

The complete study is published in the October issue of the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.

-Michelle Canales

References:

Downer B, Jiang Y, Zanjani F, Fardo D. Effects of alcohol consumption on cognition and regional brain volumes among older adults. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2014 October [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1177/1533317514549411.

The UTMB Newsroom. If you’re over 60, drink up: alcohol associated with better memory. October 22, 2014. www.utmb.edu/newsroom/article10019.aspx. Accessed October 24, 2014.