The Effects of Alcohol

As a Los Angeles Naturopathic Doctor, it is important that I am always up to date with the latest health news and developments.

How much alcohol is too much?

An extremely large study has just found that drinking alcohol is associated with reduced brain volume—even with as little as one drink per day.

The study compared questionnaires about alcohol intake with brain MRIs from 36,000 adults in the UK Biobank. By about the age of 50, the study found:

Going from zero to one alcohol unit per day (about half a beer) was linked with brain changes equivalent to about 6 months of aging.

Going from one to two alcohol units per day (about a pint of beer or a glass of wine) was linked with brain changes equivalent to 2 years of aging.

The difference between zero and four alcohol units per day was equivalent to 10 years of aging.

So, the effect of drinking more is not linear—it’s exponential. Each additional drink has even more extreme effects than the one before it.

Conclusion:

Some organizations recommend that women consume no more than one alcoholic beverage per day and men two. But according to this study—even that much will age your brain.

Whatever your reasons for drinking, there are so many ways we can support you in breaking the habit. Whether it’s nutrition, supplementation, or other supportive therapies—we are here to help you become your healthiest self.

No judgment. Just caring.

The human body is an incredible machine, and we are constantly learning and finding new ways to improve it. It’s a good habit to seek new information on how to better manage and improve our health.

If you’ve been looking for a health care approach that gets to the underlying cause and gives you lasting results, naturopathic medicine is what you need. Any tool in medicine is valid – from nutrition to herbs to medications. But a balance of all these and a combination of both traditional and naturopathic medicine is the best health care approach.

Whether you’re wanting to optimize your performance or live with vibrant health despite a chronic illness, as a Los Angeles Naturopathic Doctor I would like to help you to reach optimal health. It’s time to take on your health the way you do everything else in your life—with a unique style and on your own terms.