There’s been no shortage of research demonstrating the harmful effects of alcohol consumption, especially in larger quantities. From cancers to liver damage to immune disorders and even brain damage, it’s been shown over and over that alcohol consumption can be detrimental to your health and well-being, especially in large quantities and as you get older. Yet alcohol remains the most widely used “drug” in the world today. In fact, the number of deaths each year attributable to alcohol is equal to the overall number of annual deaths from drug overdoses. Estimates are that 140,000 people in the United States die each year from excessive alcohol consumption, shortening their lives by an average of 26 years. So it seems that no matter how much we study the harmful effects of alcohol, most of us are not aware, or not ready or able, to give it up entirely. As one commentator noted about the Baby Boom generation, “The alcohol-centric environment in which we grew up is a hard culture to break free from.” If you’re open to learning even more about how alcohol can accelerate and exacerbate the aging process, put down your glass and click here.

The research evidence keeps coming. First, in a study out of Oxford published in Molecular Psychiatry, researchers found that individuals who drink heavily or have alcohol use disorder have shorter telomeres. As we’ve previously noted, shortened telomeres are associated with shortened life spans. What counts as heavy drinking? These researchers categorized that as more than 29 units of alcohol a week, or about 10  glasses of wine (12% alcohol). While the association between alcohol use and telomere length needs further investigation, these researchers warn that lowering your alcohol intake is an appropriate goal. Find out more by reading here. Another recent study out of Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and published in the journal Aging reports an association between longtime alcohol consumption and binge drinking (more than 5 drinks in one setting) and accelerated biological aging.

When it comes to your brain, alcohol consumption can be equally harmful. A new study out of Wake Forest University and published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease found that even modest amounts of alcohol can accelerate brain atrophy and also seem to be connected to the development of amyloid plaques, the toxic brain proteins linked with Alzheimer’s Disease. One researcher summed up the study results: “These findings suggest alcohol might accelerate the pathological cascade of Alzheimer’s in its early stages.” Bottom line? Alcohol may be one more modifiable factor in lowering the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Another new study out of Korea focused on the connection between alcohol and dementia, with a more complicated set of findings. This study, published in JAMA Network Open, found a definite association between heavy drinkers (more than 2 drinks a day) and a heightened risk of dementia. However, the evidence was more muddled when it came to those who drink more moderate levels of alcohol. While it appears unlikely that moderate to low-level drinking can “protect” against dementia, the study results did suggest that those who quit drinking altogether did seem to have a higher risk of dementia than those who drink at moderate levels. Researchers posit this outcome might be related to other health issues causing people to quit drinking, which might be why their risk for dementia was higher than moderate-level drinkers. But again, the bottom line to be drawn from this study? Even small reductions in alcohol consumption appear to lower your dementia risk. To find out more, close out your bar tab and click here and here.