Forget 14, just eight units of alcohol is safe

How much alcohol can we drink before we do any serious harm to our health?  Right now, the recommendation is 14 units a week—but make that eight, new research suggests.

Fourteen units equates to around six medium-sized glasses of wine, or six pints of beer, or seven double measures of the hard stuff—and it should be far less, say researchers at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School.

They have been investigating the impact of alcohol on brain health, and have found that ‘heavy drinkers’ who have eight or more alcoholic drinks a week have an increased risk of brain lesions called hyaline arteriolosclerosis, signs of brain injury that are associated with memory and thinking problems.

It causes the small blood vessels to narrow, becoming thick and stiff. This makes it harder for blood to flow, which can damage the brain over time, creating lesions, areas of damaged tissue in the brain.

The study included 1,781 people who had an average age of 75 at death. The researchers examined brain tissue to look for signs of brain injury including tau tangles and hyaline arteriolosclerosis.

To assess alcohol consumption, family members answered questions about participants’ alcohol consumption.

Researchers then divided the participants into four groups: 965 people who never drank, 319 moderate drinkers who had seven or fewer drinks per week; 129 heavy drinkers who had eight or more drinks per week; and 368 former heavy drinkers.

Of those who never drank, 40 percent had vascular brain lesions. Of the moderate drinkers, 45 percent had lesions, while 44 percent of the heavy drinkers had them. Of the former heavy drinkers, 50 percent had lesions.

The researchers admit their research is ‘observational’ and relied on the memories of the relatives.  The link to drinking was also dubious, as 40 percent of non-drinkers also had brain lesions, which suggests that lesions are a natural consequence of living.

Finally, there is no evidence that the lesions cause cognitive problems, although we know they increase the risk.  The researchers didn’t measure the memory and calculating abilities of the participants or discover whether they had dementia or Alzheimer’s, so we’ll never know.

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