Moderate drinking is shown to be good for women’s minds
Moderate drinking does not adversely affect a woman’s cognitive function, according to new research. Moreover, women who drink one alcoholic drink per day have been found to perform better in mental agility tests than those who do not drink.
The drinking habits of 12,840 participants from the US Nurses Health
Study were analysed over a two-year period and the women’s cognitive
status was measured by their performance in brief telephone tests. Tests
included being asked to repeat, in reverse order, increasingly long series
of numbers. The difference in performance for tests administered, at
an average of 1.8 years apart, was also calculated. After adjusting for
confounding factors the authors found that women who drank 1.0 to 14.9g
of alcohol per day (up to about one drink) had a decreased risk of cognitive
impairment of about 20 per cent compared with non-drinkers. They were
also less likely to have a substantial decline in cognitive function
over a two-year period.
The authors note that they could not evaluate the association between
alcohol consumption and longer-term cognitive decline and suggest that
moderate drinkers may be more healthy in general than those who abstain
from alcohol (New England Journal of Medicine; 352:245) |
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