Binge drinking threatens epidemic of dementia

BRITAIN may be heading for a dementia epidemic caused by binge drinking, experts warned today.

Today’s alcohol-fuelled young and middle-aged revellers could be racking up brain damage which will affect their mental faculties in later years, it is claimed.

Research has shown excessive alcohol consumption can lead to the loss of brain tissue, and binge drinking is associated with an increased risk of dementia.

While Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, alcohol is said to account for around a tenth of all cases, and heavy drinking may contribute to almost a quarter.

Yet the scale of the problem in Britain has largely been overlooked, according to psychiatrists Dr Susham Gupta and Dr James Warner.

Writing in the British Journal of Psychiatry, they warn of a “silent epidemic” of alcohol-related dementia unless urgent action is taken.

The two experts pointed out alcohol consumption per head was said to have nearly doubled from less than six litres a year in the early 1960s to more than 11.5 litres in 2000.

If the trend continued, people in Britain would be consuming more alcohol than any other population in Europe within a decade.

“This might need similar legislation to that used in the fight against tobacco-related health problems,” wrote the experts.