NEW YORK CITY—Individuals who drink wine on a weekly or monthly basis have a significantly lower risk of developing dementia in old age than do those who do not drink wine, according to findings presented at the 127th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association.

Thomas Truelsen, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that individuals who drink wine on a weekly basis are 70% less likely to develop later dementia than are non–wine drinkers, while those who drink wine monthly have a 60% decrease in risk of dementia. However, daily wine drinkers are no less likely than non–wine drinkers are to develop dementia, the researchers reported.

“The results do not indicate that people should start drinking or increase wine consumption to avoid dementia but suggest that certain substances in wine may reduce the occurrence of dementia,” elaborated Dr. Truelsen, lead author of the study. He explained that one of the substances in red wine, flavonoids, may protect the brain by minimizing the damage caused by oxidants. Dr. Truelsen is affiliated with the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre at the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen.

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Additionally, in analyses of other types of alcohol, Dr. Truelsen found that people who drink wine have a lower risk of developing dementia than do people who consume beer or spirits. One group of beer drinkers, those who regularly drink beer on a monthly basis, are more than twice as likely to develop dementia in old age than are non–beer drinkers, he said. Individuals who regularly consume spirits appeared to have no change in risk of dementia, he added.

Overall, however, the average weekly total alcohol intake “had no significant effect on risk of dementia,” he noted. No difference between men and women in the effect of amount or type of alcohol on risk of dementia was detected.

Results from the trial were based on a cohort of 1,709 eligible subjects, 65 and older, from the third Copenhagen City Heart Study. Participants were screened using the Mini-Mental State Examination. If this test raised the suspicion of dementia, then the participant was further assessed for dementia. A total of 83 subjects were diagnosed with dementia; the remaining nondemented individuals were included as controls. The two groups were compared with regard to alcohol intake and type of alcohol consumed, data which were recorded 15 years earlier. The odds ratios were calculated after adjusting for age, sex, years of education, history of stroke, cohabitation status, income, level of systolic blood pressure, and current smoking status. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to compute the findings.

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