DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines - Eat For Health

Dementia: The evidence suggests an association between the consumption of one standard drink
per day for women and 1.5-2 per day for men, with a maximum intake of four standard drinks per
day, and a reduced risk of dementia in older adults (Grade C, Section 16.3 in Evidence Report
[14]) [645-651].
Alcohol use is associated with an increased risk of a number of mental health and social problems
in young adults [652]. The existence of psychiatric comorbidities in young people who drink
heavily is common, especially for conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, conduct
disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [652-656].
Nutrition-related conditions: Alcohol consumption is linked to malnutrition, Wernicke-Korsakoff
syndrome, folate deficiency, Vitamin A depletion and pellagra [657]. Excessive consumption of
alcohol (severe alcoholism) leads to malnutrition if normal diet is neglected. The financial
resources of the patient can be diverted away from purchase of food to acquiring and consuming
alcohol. In Australia the fortification of bread with thiamin has contributed to a 40% reduction in
the incidence of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome [658, 659].
Other conditions associated with harmful levels of alcohol consumption include:
dependence and addiction
endocrine conditions, for example, hypercortisonism and sexual dysfunction
alcoholic related brain damage including alcoholic dementia
gastritis and gastric ulcers
aspiration pneumonia
cardiomyopathy
interactions with pharmaceuticals and illegal recreational drugs [609].
3.4.3 How limiting alcohol may improve health
outcomes
Alcohol begins to affect the brain within five minutes of consumption, with blood alcohol
concentration peaking after 30–45 minutes. It takes approximately one hour for the liver to clear
the alcohol from one standard drink from the body, although this time varies depending upon liver
size, lean body mass, individual alcohol tolerance and genes controlling the expression of alcoholmetabolising
enzymes in the liver [660-662]. Because the rate of metabolism is fixed, rapid
consumption of multiple drinks results in a higher blood alcohol concentration.
Young adults who drink heavily tend to have smaller prefrontal cortices and white matter,
structural abnormalities of white matter and reduced hippocampal volumes [663, 664]. These
structural changes lead to a diminished ability to retrieve verbal and non-verbal material and
poorer performance in attention-based tests [652].
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