Teenage Binge Drinking Linked To Early Dementia Risk

2013.08.13

For those of you who started drinking way too much booze before entering college, science has some pretty bad news for you.

According to a recent Swedish study involving nearly 500,000 Swedish men, those who reported binge drinking during late adolescence were at the most serious of nine risk factors associated with young onset dementia (YOD), which is dementia before the age of 65. And men with at least two of the risk factors were twenty times more likely to develop YOD.

More from The Guardian:

Other "late adolescent risk factors" identified by the researchers included stroke, use of amtopsychotic drugs, depression, father's dementia, drugs intoxication other than alcohol, low cognitive function at conscription, low height at conscription and high systolic blood pressure at conscription.

So what can be done? Jess Smith, a research officer at the Alzheimer's Society, states that "Kicking excessive teenage drinking or drug habits into touch and treating conditions such as depression early could be key to reducing your risk of dementia in later life."

image via