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Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

washingtonpost.com

11–20 of 250 posts

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#11

But they define "moderate" as 2 drinks/day for a man. That is 14 drinks a week which puts you in the second highest decile for Americans! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think...

Americans are practically teetotallers, apparently?

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#12
So just for reference, 14 units of alcohol (the low-end correlated to atrophy) is approximately:

7-9 (US) shots of hard alcohol (assumed 37.5% ABV) 7 pints of Lager (assumed 4% ABV) 9.3 125 ml glasses of average strength wine (assumed 12% ABV)

Looks like my 2-5 bottles of beer a week habit is fine. :)

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/...

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#13

But they define "moderate" as 2 drinks/day for a man. That is 14 drinks a week which puts you in the second highest decile for Americans! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think...

But the highest decile is >74 drinks / week so 2 per day really is moderate in comparison... that article is quite the eye-opener!

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#14

Why not link to the actual study? http://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2353

550 civil servants followed over 30 years.

> After adjustment for numerous potential confounders, alcohol use was associated with reduced right hippocampal volume in a dose dependent manner; even moderate drinkers (classified as up to 21 units a week for men at the time of the study) were three times more likely to have hippocampal atrophy than abstainers, and very light drinking (1-6 units a week) conferred no protection relative to abstinence. Higher alcohol consumption was also associated with reduced white matter integrity and faster decline in lexical fluency, a test of “executive function.”

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#15
My concern about this study is that it used a large number of different measures: multiple structural brain measures and cognitive tests, then swept the negative ones under the rug and reported only positive correlations. This is like the XKCD jelly bean test https://xkcd.com/882/ There is no reason to accept these types of results without replication.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#16

So just for reference, 14 units of alcohol (the low-end correlated to atrophy) is approximately: 7-9 (US) shots of hard alcohol (assumed 37.5% ABV) 7 pints of Lager (assumed 4% ABV) 9.3 125 ml glasses of average strength wine (assumed 12% ABV) Looks like my 2-5 bottles of beer a week habit is fine. :) http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/...

A single shot of hard liquor is explicitly 1 unit. 1 standard serving is 25ml, *40% (standard for whiskey and vodka ) = 10ml = 1 unit. So 14 units is 14 shots.

This is not a coincidence. It's why they call it a "unit", and why the standard "single shot size" is 25ml.

(The other measurements are fine)

Edit: caveat: I'm European. This may be different in the us!

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#19
post #9

Study finds correlation. Article mentions caveat that correlation is not causation. Headline explicitly states causation. This is certainly a very interesting correlation, and demands further study. Perhaps there is a causal link. But it's just (predictably) irresponsible journalism to head such a piece with a factually incorrect headline.

Popular news is all clickbait now. I've just opted out.

desperately seeking non-popular news with non-clickbait articles. got any referrals?

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#20
post #8

Study finds correlation. Article mentions caveat that correlation is not causation. Headline explicitly states causation. This is certainly a very interesting correlation, and demands further study. Perhaps there is a causal link. But it's just (predictably) irresponsible journalism to head such a piece with a factually incorrect headline.

They've probably been drinking (moderately)

As long as we all drink the same amount, I don't care. Two shots Makers, one shot Noilly Pratt, splash of orange bitters. Shake in a jigger of ice. Pour it up and break out a RP box pressed Decade and one of Richardson's Trawler Trash series of books for accompaniment. Enjoy.
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