Patients with Alzheimer’s may benefit from moderate consumption of alcohol, according to a new study.
Researchers found that two or three units a day of alcohol was linked to a reduced risk of dying over a period of four years.
The Danish research does not mean that alcohol has a direct positive impact on Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers set out to establish whether patients enjoyed the same benefit in preventing cardiovascular disease as has been reported among other people – or whether this might be counteracted by alcohol aggravating the brain disease.
Researcher Professor Frans Boch Waldorff, of the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, said last night that he embarked on the research because little work had been done to study the effect of alcohol on patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
He said: "We cannot solely on the basis of this study neither encourage nor advise against moderate alcohol consumption in Alzheimer’s disease patients."
He said the study showed that alcohol was associated with a significantly reduced risk of mortality compared with abstainers and heavy drinkers.
The study, reported in BMJ Open, involved some 330 people with early stage disease taking part in a national study in Denmark.
Some 8% drank no alcohol and 4% drank more than three units a day.
The researchers say there are several possible explanations for the link – including the possibility that moderate drinking may indicate people with strong social networks.
Alcohol consumption and mortality in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease: a prospective cohort study BMJ Open 11 December 2015; doi 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-007851 [abstract]
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