A new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association finds that light drinking may actually be good for you, and may help in preserving brain function in old age.
The study, which was conduced on 19,887 participants Among US Adults from the Health and Retirement Study, with an average follow-up of 9.1 years. When the results were compared between never drinking, low to moderate drinking was associated with significantly better trajectories of higher cognition scores for mental status, word recall, and vo
cabulary and with lower rates of decline in each of these cognition domains.
The results of the study found that current low to moderate alcohol consumption among middle-aged or older adults may be associated with better total cognitive function.
Compared to non-drinkers, they found that those who had a drink or two a day tended to perform better on cognitive tests over time. (This does not mean that people who drink lesser should start drinking more.)