Alcohol may help prevent dementia

Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol may protect against dementia, according to a new study in the journal Age and Ageing.

Among Germans aged 75 and older, those who drank two to three drinks a day decreased their risk of dementia by as much as 60% percent compared to those who abstained.

German researchers followed more than 3,000 people across Germany for three years. At the time that the study began, none had been diagnosed with any form of dementia. Each study participant — or, in the case of illness or death, their doctor, caregiver, or other family member — was interviewed and assessed at home at the beginning of the study, 18 months later, and a final time at the three-year mark. At the end, data were available for all but 49 of the original study participants.