A single alcoholic drink can affect the health of it

Alcohol is often associated with negative health side effects. It’s correlated with weight gain, cancer, and a variety of diseases. A new study focused on the brain shows the reach of alcohol’s negative effects, showing that just one drink a day is enough to shrink people’s brains. The more drinks consumed, the worse the damage.

The study, published in the journal Nature, showed that 50-year-old subjects who drank a glass of wine or a beer a day had smaller brains than subjects who only drank half a beer a day.

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Photo by Fred Moon via Unsplash

Brain size is related to age, with the brain starting to shrink as people get into their 30s and 40s. Study results showed that those who consumed three drinks a day had brains that were three years older than their real age. Four drinks a day made the brain look ten years older. “It gets worse the more you drink,” says study author Remi Daviet.

The study looked at data from 36,000 middle-aged adults in the UK, a large sample size that allowed the researchers to see differences between people who had one drink a day and those who only had half a drink.

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However, the study cannot imply causality. “Our study is by far the largest investigation on this topic,” study co-author Gideon Nave told CNN. “It uses a general population sample and controls for more confounds than before. As such, it overwhelmingly provides more evidence than any previous research and brings us closer to resolving the debate.”

Many factors can lead to brain deterioration, which can be affected by alcohol consumption, non-participation in intellectually stimulating activities, and more.