title: Moderate, Regular Alcohol Consumption is Associated with Higher Cognitive Function in Older Community-Dwelling Adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evidence suggests that moderate alcohol consumption may protect against cognitive decline and dementia. However, uncertainty remains over the patterns of drinking that are most beneficial.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine associations between amount and frequency of alcohol consumption with multiple domains of cognitive function in a well-characterized cohort of older community-dwelling adults in southern California.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational, cross-sectional cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A research visit between 1988-1992 in Rancho Bernardo, California.
  
  
  METHODS
  1624 participants of the Rancho Bernardo Study (mean age ± SD = 73.2 ± 9.3 years).Measurements:Participants completed a neuropsychological test battery, self-administered questionnaires on alcohol consumption and lifestyle, and a clinical health evaluation. We classified participants according to average amount of alcohol intake into never, former, moderate, heavy and excessive drinkers, and according to frequency of alcohol intake, into non-drinkers, rare, infrequent, frequent and daily drinkers. We examined the association between alcohol intake and cognitive function, controlling for age, sex, education, exercise, smoking, waist-hip ratio, hypertension and self-assessed health.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Amount and frequency of alcohol intake were significantly associated with cognitive function, even after controlling for potentially related health and lifestyle variables. Global and executive function showed positive linear associations with amount and frequency of alcohol intake, whereas visual memory showed an inverted U-shaped association with alcohol intake, with better performance for moderate and infrequent drinkers than for non-drinkers, excessive drinkers or daily drinkers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In several cognitive domains, moderate, regular alcohol intake was associated with better cognitive function relative to not drinking or drinking less frequently. This suggests that beneficial cognitive effects of alcohol intake may be achieved with low levels of drinking that are unlikely to be associated with adverse effects in an aging population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: E T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Reas
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Laughlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kritz-Silverstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barrett-Connor
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: McEvoy
keywords: Cognitive aging; drinking frequency; drinking quantity; executive function; visual memory