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When a friend invites you to grab a glass of wine after a difficult day at work, you may be doing your brain some good—as long as that one glass doesn't turn into three. Indeed, several studies have found a link between limited, moderate drinking—up to one drink per day for women and two per day for men—and a lower risk of neurologic illnesses.
Studies have observed that small amounts of wine increase levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good" cholesterol), and reduce fibrinogen, a protein involved in coagulation. Lower levels of fibrinogen reduce the likelihood of a blood clot, a cause of ischemic stroke. An analysis of data from the long-running, community-based Framingham Heart Study published in the journal Stroke in 2006 found that wine may protect against atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) by raising HDL levels and inhibiting low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad" cholesterol), in adults aged 60 to 69.
The National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study looked at the association between drinking habits and future risk of Parkinson's disease in more than 300,000 adult men and women aged 50 to 71. The results, published in PLOS ONE in 2013, showed that drinking up to two 12-ounce beers a day was linked to a lower risk of Parkinson's disease. Drinking more than two 1.5-ounce servings of liquor per day correlated with an increased risk.
Researchers speculate that purine, a chemical compound in beer, may combine with ethanol to produce more urate, an acid that devours free radicals, harmful molecules that damage cells and may contribute to aging. Urate has been linked to a lower risk and slower progression of Parkinson's disease. Beer also contains high levels of niacin, or vitamin B3, which has been reported to reduce Parkinson's disease risk.
The Rotterdam Study of more than 7,983 people aged 55 and older published in The Lancet in 2002 suggested a link between light to moderate drinking (one to three drinks per day of any type of alcohol) and a reduced risk of dementia in that age group. The Dutch researchers theorized that ethanol could have an effect on cardiovascular risk factors, for example by increasing HDL, inhibiting LDL, thinning blood, or diminishing platelet aggregation. Or, alcohol may trigger acetylcholine, a neuro-transmitter involved in learning and memory, in the hippocampus.
The Northern Manhattan Study looked at 2,215 men and women with an average age of 69 and observed an association between moderate alcohol consumption and better cognitive performance. The results, published in Stroke in 2006, found that women who sipped one drink per week to two drinks per day scored better on cognitive tests than women who never drank. They did not see the same positive association in men.
The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing evaluated the drinking habits and cognitive abilities of 6,005 people aged 50 and older. The results, published in Age and Ageing in 2007, showed that moderate drinkers performed better on tests of word recall, simple math questions, and identifying dates than people who did not drink.
And a 2011 meta-analysis of 143 papers on moderate drinking and cognition published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment concluded that "light to moderate drinking does not appear to impair cognition in younger subjects and actually seems to reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline in older subjects."
No study shows a cause-and-effect link between alcohol and its potential benefits, which is why health experts do not recommend that non-imbibers start drinking. And for those who do drink, they caution that alcohol's protective effects are negated by excessive consumption.
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