控えめなお酒でも脳が縮む？
(C) Wellesley College Office for Public Affairs
研究を行ったCarol Ann Paul氏
お酒はその量にかかわらず，脳に悪い影響を与えるという調査結果が報告された。脳は老化によって10年ごとに1.9％ずつ萎縮し，認知症や記憶・学習・思考障害が進行すると小さくなることが知られている。控えめな飲酒は心血管系の病気のリスクを低くすることから，老化による脳の萎縮も防ぐのではないかと推測されていた。ところが，1,800人以上の大人を調査したところ，アルコールを控えめに飲む人でも脳の萎縮は進行し，飲む量が多いほど脳の容積は小さかったという。（吉田素子）
The more alcohol an individual drinks, the smaller his or her total brain(1) volume, according to(2) a report in the October issue of Archives(3) of Neurology(4), one of the JAMA(5)/Archives journals.
Carol Ann Paul, M.S.(6), of Wellesley College, and colleagues(7) at Boston University School of Public Health(8), studied 1,839 adults (average age 60) who were part of the Framingham Offspring(9) Study, which began in 1971 and includes children of the original Framingham Heart Study participants(10) and their spouses(11). Between 1999 and 2001, participants underwent(12) magnetic resonance imaging(13) (MRI) and a health examination(14). They reported the number of alcoholic(15) drinks they consumed(16) per week, along with their age, sex, education, height, body mass index(17) and Framingham Stroke(18) Risk Profile(19) (which calculates stroke risk based on age, sex, blood pressure(20) and other factors).
“As part of my master of science(21) thesis(22) at Boston University School of Public Health, I asked the question, ‘Is there a beneficial(23) effect of consuming small amounts of alcohol on normal decline(24) in brain volume, as is found in the cardio-vascular system(25)?” explained Paul. “It is known that, on average, brain volume declines at about 1.9% each decade(26). I wanted to know if consuming small amounts of alcohol reduced this normal decline with aging(27).”
Paul’s objective was to correlate(28) alcohol consumption(29) with brain volume. The subjects(30) were divided into five groups: abstainers(31), former drinkers, low (1-7 drinks per week), moderate (8-14 drinks per week) and high (more than 14 drinks per week).
“To my surprise, after adjusting the data for variables such as age, sex, body mass index and other cardiovascular variables, there was a significant(32) negative linear relationship(33) between alcohol consumption and brain volume,” Paul said. “Thus it can be concluded that there is no beneficial effect of low alcohol consumption in reducing normal decline in brain volume.”
Paul noted that, while these findings are interesting, it should be remembered that this was a cross-sectional study(34) ― a snapshot(35) in time. Longitudinal studies, which collect data over time, are needed to confirm these results.
(1) 脳 (2) ～によると (3) 文書（“Archives of Neurology”は雑誌名） (4) 神経学
(5) 雑誌名“the Journal of the American Medical Association”の略 (6) 理学修士（＝Master of Science）
(7) 同僚 (8) 公衆衛生 (9) 子孫 (10) 参加者 (11) 配偶者 (12) 受けた (13) 磁気共鳴画像法
(14) 健康診断 (15) アルコールの (16) 摂取した (17) ボディマス指数，肥満指数
※体重÷（身長×身長）で表される (18) 脳卒中 (19) リスクプロファイル（危険性の特徴）
(20) 血圧 (21) 理学修士（M.S.に同じ） (22) 論文 (23) 有益な (24) 低下，減少 (25) 心血管系
(26) 10年間 (27) 老化 (28) （～A with B）AとBの相互関係を示す (29) 摂取 (30) 被験者
(31) 禁酒家 (32) 顕著な (33) 直線関係 (34) 横断的研究 (35) 概略，寸評
