Alcoholism
Alcohol, especially when consumed in excess, can have horrible effects on the human body. One of those negative impacts is cognitive impairment and the onset of dementia. A study in China discovered that excessive alcohol consumption correlates to higher rates of dementia. However, the study also found that there is a U-shaped relationship with alcohol. Those who drank alcohol in moderation had less of a chance of getting dementia than those abstained from alcohol. Another study published in the British Medical Journal found similar results and noted the U-shaped relationship.
Returning to genetics for a moment, it was found that those who have the ApoE4 gene and drink excessive amounts of alcohol elevated their risk of dementia. Therefore, before you start drinking beer, you might want to check whether or not you have those genes.
There is also alcoholic dementia. This kind of dementia can happen to anyone, at any age. It is characterized by cognitive and neurological impairment after copious amounts of alcohol throughout the years. Two issues that often compound with alcoholic dementia are Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s disease (Wernicke-Korsakoff disease).
