Draft Australian Dietary Guidelines (PDF, 3MB) - Eat For Health

Dementia: The evidence suggests an association between the consumption of one standard drinkper day for women and 1.5-2 per day for men, with a maximum intake of four standard drinks perday, 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 problemsin young adults [652]. The existence of psychiatric comorbidities in young people who drinkheavily is common, especially for conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, conductdisorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [652-656].Nutrition-related conditions: Alcohol consumption is linked to malnutrition, Wernicke-Korsakoffsyndrome, folate deficiency, Vitamin A depletion and pellagra [657]. Excessive consumption ofalcohol (severe alcoholism) leads to malnutrition if normal diet is neglected. The financialresources of the patient can be diverted away from purchase of food to acquiring and consumingalcohol. In Australia the fortification of bread with thiamin has contributed to a 40% reduction inthe 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 healthoutcomesAlcohol begins to affect the brain within five minutes of consumption, with blood alcoholconcentration peaking after 30–45 minutes. It takes approximately one hour for the liver to clearthe alcohol from one standard drink from the body, although this time varies depending upon liversize, lean body mass, individual alcohol tolerance and genes controlling the expression of alcoholmetabolisingenzymes in the liver [660-662]. Because the rate of metabolism is fixed, rapidconsumption 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]. Thesestructural changes lead to a diminished ability to retrieve verbal and non-verbal material andpoorer performance in attention-based tests [652].DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines- December 2011 97