Alcohol was the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide in 2016, accounting for nearly one in ten deaths, according to a study published in The Lancet in 2018. “It has been known for decades that heavy drinking is bad for brain health,” said Sadie Boniface, head of research at the UK’s Institute of Alcohol Studies. While there is no such thing as a “safe” level of drinking, with increased consumption of alcohol associated with poorer brain health, according to a recent study.
In the observational study, researchers from the University of Oxford studied the relationship between the self-reported alcohol intake of some 25,000 people in the UK, and their brain scans. The researchers noted that drinking had an effect on the brain’s gray matter — regions in the brain that make up “important bits where information is processed,” according to lead author Anya Topiwala, a senior clinical researcher at Oxford.
“The more people drank, the less the volume of their gray matter,” Topiwala said via email. “Brain volume reduces with age and more severely with dementia (痴呆). Smaller brain volume also predicts worse performance on memory testing,” she explained. “While alcohol only made a small contribution to this (0.8%), it was a greater contribution than other ‘changeable’ risk factors,” she said, explaining that changeable risk factors are “ones you can do something about, in contrast to aging.”
The team also investigated whether certain drinking patterns, beverage types and other health conditions made a difference to the impact of alcohol on brain health. They found that there was no “safe” level of drinking — meaning that consuming any amount of alcohol was worse than not drinking it. They also found no evidence that the type of drink — such as wine, spirits or beer — affected the harm done to the brain.
However, certain characteristics, such as high blood pressure or obesity, could put people at higher risk, researchers added. So we shouldn’t forget alcohol affects all parts of the body and there are multiple health risks.
8. How was the observational study developed?
A.By comparing brain and health. |
B.By comparing people and the researchers. |
C.By comparing information and gray matter. |
D.By comparing alcohol intake and brain scans. |
9. What is the result of the research?
A.Drinking wine have no impact on brain. |
B.Drinking spirits have more impact on brain. |
C.Drinking alcohol can cause reducing of brain volume. |
D.Drinking alcohol can lead to obesity. |
10. Which of the following groups has a higher risk when drinking alcohol?
A.People drinking more types. | B.People with high blood pressure. |
C.People selling the wine. | D.People with diabetes. |
11. What can be the best title for the passage?
A.Stay Away From Alcohol | B.Lack of Sleep |
C.Consumer Health | D.Keep-fit Exercise |