Drinking one or two cocktails a day may protect against dementia, while having three or more could increase risk, new research suggests. Investigators assessed the risk of dementia using changes in alcohol consumption in nearly four million people in Korea and found that after about 7 years, dementia was 21% less likely in mild drinkers and 17% less likely in moderate drinkers. Heavy drinking was linked to an 8% increased risk of getting the disease.

The findings were published in JAMA Network Open on February 6. According to CNN, lead author Dr. Keun Hye Jeon, assistant professor at CHA Gumi Medical Center in Gumi, South Korea, said in an email:

“We found that maintaining mild to moderate alcohol consumption as well as reducing alcohol consumption from a heavy to a moderate level were associated with a decreased risk of dementia.”

The new study examined the health records of people covered by the Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) who get free medical examinations twice a year if they are 40 years or older. The current study looked at data collected between 2009 and 2011 and categorized people by their self-reported drinking levels. If a person said they drank about 0.5 ounces daily, they were considered “mild” drinkers. If they consumed the equivalent of two standard drinks in the U.S. (a standard drink is 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits), they were considered to be “moderate” drinkers. If the participants said they drank more than that, researchers considered them “heavy” drinkers

https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/alcohol-consumption-drinking/2023/02/09/id/1108060/