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a new study has found that drinking even modest amounts of alcohol may speed up the progression of alzheimer’s disease .
the preclinical research, which was published in the february issue of neurobiology of disease , found that small amounts of alcohol have the potential to accelerate brain atrophy (the loss of brain cells) and increase the quantity of amyloid plaques (the toxic proteins thought to underlie the disease) in the brain. the study was supported, in part, by grants from the national institute on alcohol abuse and alcoholism and the national institute on aging.
“these findings suggest alcohol might accelerate the pathological cascade of alzheimer’s disease in its early stages,” said shannon macauley , associate professor of physiology and pharmacology at wake forest university school of medicine.
alzheimer’s disease is a chronic condition that is believed to be the result of the accumulation of certain proteins in the brain that leads to the slow death of neurons, according to the alzheimer’s association . this process eventually produces symptoms of memory loss, difficulty thinking or changes in mood and behaviour. the disease is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 per cent of all cases, and more than 747,000 canadians are currently living with alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. roughly 65 per cent of people diagnosed with the disease after the age of 65 are women.
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dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca