Consequences of alcohol consumption
Just one gram of alcohol a day is so bad for the brain
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Yes, we know: too much alcohol is unhealthy. But a US study has now found out how very small amounts can affect our brain …
Oh, just a glass of wine today … It doesn’t matter, does it? Unfortunately yes. Because a glass of wine contains around 14 grams of alcohol. And according to one Study from the University of Southern California In the USA, just one gram of alcohol a day can age our brain by seven and a half days, i.e. more than a week. You can work out the rest …
Even small amounts of alcohol can age the brain by several months
For their study, the US researchers examined more than 17,000 human brain images from the UK Biobank, a data set from a large-scale British long-term study. The participants were between 45 and 81 years old. And the result of the investigation is frightening: Because every gram of alcohol that we consume causes our brain to age prematurely by 0.02 years – i.e. seven and a half days.
Just so you can get a better idea of how little a gram of alcohol is: our beloved glass of wine contains 14 grams of alcohol, a small bottle of beer around 13 grams.
Over a longer period of time, alcohol consumption has devastating consequences: the brains of the people taking part, who say they indulge in a glass of wine or beer (or two or three) every day or at least on most days, are on average 0.4 years or aged five months faster than the teetotalers: inside of the same chronological age.
Smoking also prematurely ages the brain
In their study, the researchers at the University of Southern California not only focused on the consumption of alcohol, but also looked at what cigarettes can do to the brain. According to research, smoking is even more harmful than drinking. The brains of the study participants who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for over a year have aged 0.03 years prematurely. That’s eleven days! On average, the brains of smokers were six to seven months older than those of non-smokers of the same age.
Sources used: inverse.com, nature.com