Your brain loves it when you cut back on booze

Plus, 7 tips for mindful drinking and how to make a great zero-proof drink

It’s the holidays, a fun time that often includes alcohol as part of the festivities. For many of us, this means drinking more than usual. If you’ve tried to cut back on how much booze you drink this year, I applaud you! This is a smart strategy for your brain health. But all the holiday parties can certainly make it challenging to stick to a low- or no-alcohol program.

The Ruby Red, pictured, is one of my favorite zero-proof drinks. Get the recipe here.

The reality is, nobody knows exactly how much alcohol is safe to drink. We know heavy drinking (defined by the CDC as more than 7 drinks/week for women, 14 for men) is strongly linked to accelerated cognitive decline. For moderate drinking (up to 7 drinks/week for women, or 14 for men), studies are mixed. The Mediterranean diet studies, for example, famously included one glass of red wine with meals. And, the original MIND diet study included red wine as a brain healthy food group. (It was dropped in the subsequent MIND Diet Trial, results pending.) Both the Mediterranean and MIND dietary patterns post the best data for reducing Alzheimer’s risk. 

Still, researchers grapple with the role of alcohol in health outcomes. Is alcohol—a substance that impairs memory and is known to be neurotoxic on the cellular level—actually brain-protective? Or, does that protection come solely from the plant-rich and olive oil-drizzled food of these dietary patterns? Are these diets brain-healthy because they include alcohol, or despite it? It’s possible that light to moderate drinking translates to better brain health in some studies because it can be a stress-reducing activity.

Now, new data from the largest brain imaging study to date shows the difference between brain protection and brain damage can be measured in just a few drinks per week. In the UK Biobank study of more than 36,000 healthy participants, researchers found a linear relationship between brain shrinkage (a sign of accelerated brain aging) and alcohol intake. In other words: the more one drinks, the more the brain shrinks over time. Heavy drinkers had the most dramatic brain shrinkage. Moderate drinkers had lower brain volumes than light drinkers. In the light drinking category—defined as 1 to 6 drinks per week—researchers identified a more rapid decline starting at 4 or more drinks. Non-drinkers had the least brain shrinkage of all. 

How brain volume changes over time is a key determinant of Alzheimer’s risk. As a healthy brain ages, it maintains its robust size longer, shrinking over time at a very slow rate. Holding onto as much brain volume as possible is ideal. More brain volume means more brain cells, synapses, and blood flow. The brain’s memory center, the hippocampus, is especially vulnerable to poor blood flow when the brain shrinks. I like to think of a robust brain volume as memory preservation. Loss of brain volume is a typical finding in persons with Alzheimer's. 

Even small amounts of alcohol may be detrimental to the brain if you carry one or two copies of the ApoE4 Alzheimer’s risk gene.

If you drink, consider Mindful Drinking—the practice of being aware of why and how much alcohol you drink. 

1. Don't reach for alcohol when you are sad, mad, tired, or bored. 

2. Keep total consumption under 6 drinks per week. 

3. Don't drink within 3 hours of going to bed; alcohol wrecks the healthy pattern of sleep that clears toxins from the brain. 

4. Measure your drinks. One glass of wine, for example, is 5 ounces, considerably less than the typical pour. 

5. Schedule 4 or more "dry days" into your week. On these days, enjoy a mocktail or alcohol-free beer instead. (If you need support, check out the Sunnyside App. It helps you mindfully schedule dry days and drinking ones, assess progress, and even has a drinking coach to check in on you when the plan goes sideways.)

6. Try taking a month off from drinking. Most will enjoy deeper, more restful sleep and more daytime energy, while losing a few pounds of excess body weight. Plus, a dry month has been shown to keep alcohol intake down even 6 months after going back to drinking. 

7. Keep in mind that the stress-reducing benefits of having a drink may have more to do with the conviviality of a shared social experience than the actual contents of the drinks. Focus on people, not alcohol, when socializing.

Making a great zero-proof drink

The problem with most mocktails, I have found, is they are loaded with added sugars. Most rely on sugar-fortified juices, simple syrup, and products like ginger beer to make up for the alcohol. A steady diet of sweetened or artificially sweetened drinks is detrimental to the gut microbiome, and can even increase the risk of dementia and stroke.

I recommend avoiding all artificial non-nutritive sweeteners, such as aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose, in your brain-healthy diet. They are proven to be poor for metabolic health, too, and can increase cravings for sweet foods.

A better way to sweeten drinks

Monkfruit sweetener is a natural product made from the dried and pulverized flesh of the monk fruit. Like other natural non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), such as stevia, it provides zero calories. While studies are somewhat limited, monkfruit sweetener doesn’t seem to be harmful to metabolic health. In other words, it doesn’t hit the bloodstream like sugar, eliciting a glucose spike and insulin response.

Monkfruit simple syrup has been a game-changer for my mocktails. It balances the tart ingredients (like the grapefruit juice and bitters in The Ruby Red), while lending a distinctive alcohol-like aftertaste. The method is easy. Unlike making simple syrup from sugar and water, however, you won’t let the mixture come to a boil. And, to avoid crystallization, keep at room temperature before using.

I use this brand of monkfruit sweetener. Like most, it contains a sugar alcohol to give it the texture of sugar. Sugar alcohols are categorized as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) but can cause intestinal upset in some people. If so, seek out erythritol-free monkfruit.

Recipe: Monk Fruit Simple Syrup

½ cup water
¼ cup monk fruit sweetener

Warm the water and monk fruit sweetener in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring often until dissolved. Do not let it come to a boil. Pour the syrup into a glass jar and let cool at room temperature.

Tip: The monkfruit syrup will crystallize if refrigerated. Keep at room temperature before using. Or, add to your drink recipe and then chill.

Monkfruit Simple Syrup

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I’m bringing a big batch of my Hibisicus Lime Sangria to Christmas Eve dinner this year. It’s not just for summer! I have also been making a warm version of the Spiced Apple Mocktail (leave out the sparkling water) that is perfect for these cold nights.

I’ll be back on Friday to share another drink I’ve been tinkering with.

Have you tried to cut back on drinking? I would love to hear the tips and tricks that work for you. And, if you have a favorite zero-proof drink, please share!

Love,

Annie