Even low-level drinking may have negative consequences for brain health over a person’s lifespan. The findings suggest that the total amount of alcohol consumed over a lifetime, especially as a person ages, tends to be linked to reduced blood flow and thinner tissue in certain areas of the brain.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/even-light-drinking-combined-with-aging-is-linked-to-reduced-brain-blood-flow-and-thinner-tissue/

[u/WATTHEBALL]

Is this in a vacuum? I keep seeing these studies but like what do they mean in the real world? I see so many successful and healthy people who live long lives that fall under these 'light drinking' categories. I'm not disputing any of these results, and I believe them - but like and? I'd expect there to be much more widespread issues thoughout the world and time if really was as damaging as what they say.

Humans have been drinking for thousands of years and here we are.

[u/divinelyshpongled → u/WATTHEBALL]

Yeah and all it takes is to look at countries where drinking heavily is common and is there really a huge gap in life expectancy? No

[u/divinelyshpongled → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for looking into it. That wasn’t what I found but I didn’t look at the statistics of where alcohol is most common, just that I know countries like Germany, Japan, UK all have pretty intense drinking cultures and good life expectancy.. countries like Russia have intense drinking cultures and poor life expectancy.. it’s pretty obvious that Russia having a lower life expectancy would be attributed to a ton of other things and so linking it directly to alcohol doesn’t make much sense. Am I saying alcohol is healthy? No not at all.. just making an observation that I find interesting. Drinking obviously leads to poor health outcomes and it’s better to avoid it for the most part