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Posted on Dec 12, 2002, 12 p.m.
By Bill Freeman
Results of another study have added support to the theory that seniors who regularly consume small amounts of alcohol are less likely to develop dementia than teetotallers are. Chengxuan Qiu of the Karolinska Institute and the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center in Stockholm, Sweden, and his colleagues found that seniors aged 75 and over who drank less than two alcoholic drinks each day were half as likely as non-drinkers to develop dementia over the six-year study period.
Results of another study have added support to the theory that seniors who regularly consume small amounts of alcohol are less likely to develop dementia than teetotallers are. Chengxuan Qiu of the Karolinska Institute and the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center in Stockholm, Sweden, and his colleagues found that seniors aged 75 and over who drank less than two alcoholic drinks each day were half as likely as non-drinkers to develop dementia over the six-year study period. However, when Qui excluded people who were already showing signs of mental impairment the seemingly protective relationship between light alcohol consumption and dementia risk was not as strong. Thus, raising the possibility that people in the early stages of mental impairment may shun alcohol. If this were the case, it would make it look like abstainers are at higher risk of dementia. Qui is cautious, saying that his results do not prove that light drinking can help to protect against dementia, however he does believe that the theory makes "good biological sense".
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 2002; 55:959-964
