Booze and the brain: Are heavy drinkers at higher risk of Alzheimer's disease?

Individuals who consume eight or more alcoholic beverages per week may have a higher chance of developing tau clusters in the brain that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease, new research suggests.

The study, which was published in Neurology, examined a 20-year swath of autopsy findings. The 1,781 people studied were divided into four categories based on alcohol consumption frequency — individuals who didn’t drink, and those who consumed alcohol on moderate, heavy, or formerly heavy basis, The Washington Post reports.

Those who’d been heavy drinkers were 41% morley likely to have these clusters, which are also known as neurofibrillary tangles, while those who’d formerly been heavy drinkers had a 31% higher risk, the data shows.

“We looked at how alcohol affects the brain as people get older,” said Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo, one of the study’s authors in a press release. “Our research shows that heavy alcohol consumption is damaging to the brain, which can lead to memory and thinking problems.”

A condition known as hyaline arteriolosclerosis, which obstructs the movement of blood through the brain, was also more common among heavy drinkers.

“The study does not prove that heavy drinking causes brain injury; it only shows an association,” the press release states.