There is no such thing as a “safe” level of drinking, with increased consumption of alcohol associated with poorer brain health, according to a new study.

In an observational study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, researchers from the University of Oxford studied the relationship between the self-reported alcohol intake of some 25,000 people in the United Kingdom, and their brain scans. The researchers noted that drinking had an effect on the brain’s gray matter — regions in the brain that make up “important bits where information is processed,” according to lead author Anya Topiwala, a senior clinical researcher at Oxford.

“The more people drank, the less the volume of their gray matter,” Topiwala said via email.

“Brain volume reduces with age and more severely with dementia. Smaller brain volume also predicts worse performance on memory testing,” she explained.

“Whilst alcohol only made a small contribution to this (0.8 percent), it was a greater contribution than other ‘modifiable’ risk factors,” she said, explaining that modifiable risk factors are “the ones you can do something about, in contrast to aging.”

The team also investigated whether certain drinking patterns, beverage types and other health conditions made a difference to the impact of alcohol on brain health.

They found that there was no “safe” level of drinking — meaning that consuming any amount of alcohol was worse than not drinking it. They also found no evidence that the type of drink — such as wine, spirits or beer — affected the harm done to the brain.

However, certain characteristics, such as high blood pressure, obesity or binge drinking, could put people at higher risk, researchers added.

The risks of alcohol have long been known: Previous studies have found that there’s no amount of liquor, wine or beer that is safe for your overall health.

Alcohol was the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide in 2016, accounting for nearly one in 10 deaths, according to a study published in The Lancet in 2018.

“It has been known for decades that heavy drinking is bad for brain health,” Sadie Boniface, head of research at the U.K.’s Institute of Alcohol Studies, said via email. “We also shouldn’t forget alcohol affects all parts of the body and there are multiple health risks.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【失智症】 shīzhìzhèng dementia a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think or make decisions

【酗酒】xùjiǔ binge drinking the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time

新研究指出，“安全”的饮酒量是不存在的，喝酒喝得越多，对大脑健康的损害就越大。

在一项未经同行评议的观察性研究中，牛津大学的研究人员研究了英国约2.5万人报告的饮酒量和他们的大脑扫描图像之间的关系。

该研究的首席作者、牛津大学高级临床研究员安雅•托皮瓦拉指出，喝酒会影响大脑灰质，这是“信息加工处理的重要区域”。

托皮瓦拉在电邮中写道：“人们喝的酒越多，大脑灰质就越少。”

她解释道：“脑容量会随着年龄增长而下降，痴呆症患者会下降得更厉害。脑容量更小预示着记忆测试的表现会更差。”

她说：“尽管酒精对脑容量下降的影响很小（只有0.8%），但是比其他可调节风险因素占比都更大。”她解释说，可调节风险因素指的是“可控的因素，相对于不可控的衰老而言”。

研究团队还调查了特定的饮酒习惯、酒精饮料类型和本人健康状况是否会改变酒精对大脑健康的影响程度。

他们发现，“安全的”饮酒量是不存在的，这意味着，喝多喝少都有害，不喝才是安全的。他们还发现，没有证据证明酒的类型（比如葡萄酒、白酒或啤酒）对大脑受损程度有不同影响。

不过，研究人员补充道，高血压、肥胖等身体特征和酗酒行为会提升大脑受损风险。

酒精对健康的风险很早以前就已为人所知。先前的研究发现，无论是白酒、葡萄酒还是啤酒，喝多少都不利于整体健康。

2018年发表在《柳叶刀》上的一项研究指出，酒精是2016年内导致全球范围15岁到49岁男女患病和早逝的第一大风险因素，近十分之一的人因此丧命。

英国酒精研究所研究部主任莎蒂•博尼费斯在电邮中写道：“早在几十年前，我们就知道酗酒有害大脑健康。我们也不要忘记，喝酒影响身体的各个部位，会产生多种健康风险。”(chinadaily.com.cn)