Dementia warning as this popular drink found to 'speed up' Alzheimer's

Many of us are aware of the fact that consuming alcohol generally is not good for our health. Drinking too much is known to raise your risk for liver disease, heart disease and even cancer.

Now research has shown that it could also speed up the progression of Alzheimer's disease. A new study, published in , revealed that Alzheimer’s and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are associated with similarly altered gene expression patterns in the brain.

According to researchers, this supports the idea that alcohol use may promote Alzheimer’s disease progression. Senior author Pietro Paolo Sanna, a professor in the immunology and microbiology department at Scripps Research, explained: “We found several cell-type-specific genes and pathways that are dysregulated in both Alzheimer’s disease and alcohol, which supports the hypothesis that alcohol use disorder can accelerate Alzheimer’s disease progression by impinging on some of the same molecular mechanisms that are affected by Alzheimer’s.

“By understanding these dysregulations with this level of molecular detail, we can understand what’s causing these diseases, and we can also identify targets that could be used therapeutically.” As part of the study, the team analysed ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing data from hundreds of thousands of individual brain cells from 75 patients with varying stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

They did the same with 10 patients without Alzheimer’s. This showed that both AUD and Alzheimer’s are associated with similar gene expression changes in the brain, including upregulation of inflammatory genes and pathways, disruption to cell signalling and cell-death-related pathways, and changes to blood vessel cells.

First author Arpita Joshi said: “What we’ve presented here is a differential analysis of two disorders that cause cognitive decline. It deepens our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and what the three clinically defined stages of Alzheimer’s entail, and it underscores the importance of considering alcohol use disorder as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s.”

However, researchers acknowledged that their study needed to be conducted with more participants and are planning to repeat their analysis using larger gene expression databases from individuals with AUD. Joshi added: “We are eagerly awaiting the release of larger alcohol use datasets so that we can test the robustness of these findings and examine the commonalities between the two disorders with finer cell-type granularity.

“This is a global effort to unravel complex diseases at the single-cell level, which will lead to a better understanding of the molecular and cellular perturbations in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, alcohol use disorder, and their interactions.”

The warns that the following factors can raise your risk of Alzheimer’s disease:

• High blood pressure
• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Lack of physical activity
• Poor diet
• High alcohol consumption
• Low levels of cognitive engagement
• Depression
• Traumatic brain injury
• Hearing loss
• Social isolation
• Air pollution
• Age
• Gender (women have a higher risk)
• Genetics.

If you are concerned about your drinking habits you should speak to your GP or visit for information.

The warns that there is “no completely safe level of drinking” but recommends drinking no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread across three days or more. That's around six medium (175ml) glasses of wine, or six pints of four percent beer.