Regular alcohol consumption, even moderately, can have very negative consequences for the health of the body in general, and the brain in particular, since a new study has found that consuming seven or more units of alcohol per week – which is equivalent to two glasses of 250 ml of wine, or two or three beers a week – is associated with increased levels of iron in the brain, and the accumulation of iron in this organ has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, and is considered a potential risk factor for alcohol-related cognitive decline.
The research, which has been published in PLOS Medicine, included data from 20,729 individuals registered with the UK Biobank, with a mean age of 55, 48.6% of whom were women. These people provided information about their alcohol consumption and took certain tests to measure their cognitive and motor functions. In addition, their brains were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging, and the livers of some 7,000 participants were also imaged to assess systemic iron levels.
One unit of alcohol in the UK is defined as 8 grams (10 milliliters) of pure alcohol/ethanol. “So seven units is roughly two large 250ml glasses of 14% wine, or two to three beers a week,” said Anya Topiwala of the University of Oxford, UK, and lead author of the paper.
Alcohol consumption increases iron levels in the brain
2.7% of participants classified themselves as non-drinkers, but the average intake was about 18 units per week, or the equivalent of about 7½ cans of beer or six large glasses of wine. The researchers found that alcohol consumption above seven units per week was associated with higher iron markers in the basal ganglia, an area of the brain associated with control of motor movements, procedural learning, eye movement, cognition and emotion, among other functions. Iron accumulation in some brain regions was associated with poorer cognitive function.
Alcohol consumption above seven units per week was associated with higher iron markers in the basal ganglia, an area of the brain associated with movement control, learning, cognition…
Adds Topiwala: “In the largest study to date, we found that drinking more than seven units of alcohol per week is associated with iron accumulation in the brain. Higher amounts of iron in the brain, in turn, are associated with lower cognitive performance. Iron accumulation could underlie alcohol-related cognitive decline.”
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