The brains of those who consume alcohol in moderation work better than those who abstain from it totally as also those who are alcoholics, a study by Australian National University in Canberra has found.
Under the study, researchers tracked the drinking habits of about 7,000 people, spanning all age groups from 20s to 60s. “The research looked at factors including physical health, personality, social supports, friendships and enemies, and yet these did not explain it. It’s a mystery,” said Bryan Rodgers, one of the study’s authors.
The results suggested that moderate drinkers, that is, those whose alcohol consumption was within safe limits, had enhanced memory, verbal and thinking skills than teetotalers and alcoholics. For men, the safe limit fell between 14 to 28 units of alcohol and for women, seven to 14 units. In addition to enhanced brain activity, moderate drinkers were also found to be in better physical health than their teetotaler counterparts. The results were consistent throughout the different groups.
Rodgers said the results were baffling, mainly because alcohol is believed to damage brain cells. He, however, added there might be other factors that might have influenced the results. “This does not necessarily show moderate alcohol use is good for our brains – there may be other reasons we haven't measured to explain the poor performance of non-drinkers,” he said.
One likely explanation might be that alcohol lowers the risk of cardiovascular disorders, improves blood circulation and enhances the supply of blood to the brain, thereby improving its function. Kaarin Anstey, who co-authored the study, while pondering over the reasons for the findings said, “One possibility is that alcohol is protective, but it's also possible that there were things in our study that we didn't measure.
There tends to be some differences in the study that we didn't measure and there seems to be some differences in the reasons why people tended not to drink that might be socio-economic factors, so we're doing further study.”
