These are the ages when alcohol is most dangerous for the brain, say researchers

Alcohol has a lot well-known negative effects about our health, but a new article this week highlights the most harmful times in life to have alcohol in your system, at least when it comes to our brains.

The paper, published as a BMJ editorial on Friday, was written by scholars from the UK and Australia: Louise Mewton, Briana Lees and Rahul Tony Rao. Mewton and Rao have studied brain aging, while Lees specializes in mental health and substance use. Together, they summarize much of the current research on how alcohol can influence the brain and body throughout our lifetimes.

As you would expect, exposure to alcohol can be particularly harmful in the early stages of development, from the time the fetus is in the womb. Heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy is known to increase the chances of children being born with lifelong neurological impairment and other birth defects – a condition called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The authors also point to research suggesting that even light to moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy could have subtle negative effects on a child’s brain health later on.

The next peak in alcohol-related danger seems to come when we are in our mid to late teens. Research has shown that young people between the ages of 15 and 19 often start their drinking habit with excessive alcohol consumption, and heavy drinking has been bound decreased brain size, nerve cell connectivity, and small declines in cognitive function, the authors note.

Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, there is old age (65 and over). Excessive alcohol consumption is less common among older people. But those who have long periods of heavy drinking are known to have a increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline as they reach their golden years.

As the authors point out, there is still more research to be done to show how necessary alcohol consumption is to negatively affect the brain at different times in our lives. Some studies, for example, have shown that light alcohol consumption is actually linked to better brain health in older people. But these types of observational studies have their limitations, and other recent research suggests that there is really no “healthy” level of alcohol consumption– just relatively lower levels of risk. Even light alcohol consumption was bound at a higher cancer risk, for example.

While a world without alcohol seems unimaginable (and, given what happened the last time people tried to ban it, problematic to say the least), we could probably all benefit from policies that make it easier for us to reduce the amount we drink on a regular basis, regardless of our age.

“A life-course perspective on brain health supports the formulation of public health policies and interventions to reduce alcohol use and abuse at all ages,” the authors wrote. “It could increase longevity and quality of life by reducing the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, aberrant neurocognitive development in adolescence, and dementia later in life.”