Does Alcohol Age Us? Drinking alcohol directly accelerates biological aging, according to the largest ever study on the impacts of alcohol on DNA.
Researchers at Oxford University discovered that high alcohol consumption increased biological aging by up to six years — suggesting that cutting down on drinking could significantly reduce the risk of age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.
The results, published this week in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, also suggest that consuming low amounts of alcohol does not cause aging to accelerate. Rather, the damage seems to begin after a surprisingly high amount is consumed.
Alcohol and Aging
Previous studies on the impact of alcohol consumption on DNA had suggested that drinking causes the shortening of telomeres — a biological marker for aging. But it has been difficult for researchers to collate the findings of multiple, international studies and untangle whether it was alcohol itself accelerating aging or associated factors, such as socioeconomic status.
