Just one alcoholic drink a day could alter the structure of your brain.
Just one alcoholic drink can affect your brain
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered - after looking at 36,000 individual MRI scans - that one alcoholic drink in a day is associated with brain shrinkage, but don't know why this happens.
This discovery directly contradicts the common idea that alcohol in moderation is fine, and that it can only be harmful in excess.
The researchers found: “The negative associations between alcohol intake and brain macrostructure and microstructure are already apparent in individuals consuming an average of only one to two daily alcohol units, and become stronger as alcohol intake increases.”
They found that the transition between zero drinks and one drink did not show a large reduction in gray/white brain matter - which is associated with aging - going from one drink to two or three drinks showed a significant impact.
Daviet, one of the study's author at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: “It’s not linear. It gets worse the more you drink.”
He added: “Cutting back on that final drink of the night might have a big effect in terms of brain aging.”