Just two pints of beer a day speeds up memory loss in middle-aged men, report

If you're a middle-aged man looking forward to a couple of pints tonight, you might want to stop at one.

Men in their 40s who drink just two pints of beer a day risk accelerating mental decline by up to six years by the time they reach retirement age.

The survey found men who consumed more alcohol over 20 years were likely to suffer memory loss at a later age
In the first long-term study of its kind, scientists tracked more than 5,000 British men for 20 years and found heavy drinking was behind premature damage to the memory.

Moderate drinking, defined as less than 2.5 units a day – roughly a pint of beer or a large glass of wine – was found to have no effect on memory, reasoning or problem solving.

But men who drank more than 4.5 units a day – less than two pints or two large glasses of wine – suffered a deterioration in their ability to recall information, the equivalent to an extra six years of ageing.

And the decline of the brain's 'executive function' – which includes attention span and reasoning skills – was hastened by an extra year and a half.

The study, carried out by scientists at University College London, involved tracking the drinking habits of 5,054 civil servants over a ten-year period until the late 1990s, and then testing their mental ability over the next ten years until 2009.

Dr Séverine Sabia, lead author of the study, said: 'Much of the research evidence about drinking and a relationship to memory and executive function is based on older populations.
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