Having one or two alcoholic drinks per day may help prevent dementia in the elderly, according to study findings presented at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Vienna, Austria.

Too much alcohol use, however, may promote dementia. The results indicate that cognitively normal adults, 75 years or older, who are moderate drinkers are 40 percent less likely to develop dementia over 6 years than are their non-drinking peers. By contrast, alcohol use appears to offer no benefit, and possibly cause harm, for adults who already have some degree of cognitive impairment.

(China Daily July 16, 2009)