“Alcohol Linked to Dementia”
Alcohol flows freely throughout the world. However, study after study is pointing to alcohol as being a cause of a variety of cancers. Furthermore, it is being discredited as having heart healthy benefits. It now appears that any reduction in alcohol consumption will lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer risk. But, health information campaigns are ineffective against the powerful marketing-forces pushing alcohol. As a public health issue, no one should be pushing and condoning the consumption of alcohol. Early in 2014, the United Kingdom issued new guidelines on alcohol drinking, recommending that men drink no more than women and warning that any amount of alcohol increases the risk of developing a range of cancers. A new 2018 study suggests heavy alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for all types of dementia, but particularly early-onset dementia. The retrospective analysis involving 30 million people in France shows that those with a history of alcohol use disorders had a threefold increased risk for dementia and that over half those with early-onset dementia had a history of alcohol problems. Dr. Michaël Schwarzinger, lead author said, “Our results suggest that heavy drinking is the strongest potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia that we have ever seen.
