Drink less to prevent dementia

A study of over 1 million people conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found that people with alcohol use disorders were more likely to have developed all types of dementia, including early-onset dementia.

The researchers found that chronic heavy drinking was the top risk factor for dementia when compared with other “modifiable” or “preventable” risk factors such as tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, lower education, depression, and hearing loss. They speculated that heavy drinking has a strong impact because of the links to structural brain changes as well as other full-body impacts such as hypertension and liver damage.

As dementia is seen as a major threat to healthy ageing, the findings from this study provide new evidence to consider in policy development and practice updates. At the IFA 14th Global Conference on Ageing, delegates will have the pleasure of hearing about the latest research on this topic from global experts on cognitive health and dementia risk reduction.

Learn more about what can be done to curb the risk of dementia from IFA experts.

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