“As Little as 8 Alcoholic Drinks a Week Can Contribute to Dementia, Research Says”

Question

This claim is TRUE:

The original article was published on the People Magazine website. It got its data from a study by the scientific journal Neurology. The link in the article leads to the Scientific Daily website, which holds the same information.

BUT…

The Scientific Daily website is not the primary source. If you go to that website, you can find a link to the Neurology article. The American Academy of Neurology is not associated with the government but is a reputable organization. 

Answer 1

This claim is true. It is linked to an article written on People.com, which tends to post articles regarding celebrities and entertainment, but references a study by the American Academy of Neurology. There has been a lot of information and studies done on this topic in the past few years, and they all seem to come to a similar conclusion. The article’s claim that 8 drinks a week can contribute to dementia is true, but it is necessary to understand that everyone’s body tolerates alcohol differently. Because of this, the current NHS guidelines advise both women and men to limit their alcohol intake to 14 units a week. Having over that amount weekly “is certainly linked to an increase in dementia risk, post-mortem reduction in brain volume and MRI signs of brain damage via possibly multiple pathways” (Wiegmann et al., 2020). It is also important to be aware that heavy drinking won't cause dementia in everyone; it will only speed up the process and potentially make dementia more damaging/ worse. Although in certain cases, alcohol abuse can cause dementia or other brain disorders if one gets alcohol related brain damage. 

Sources:

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/managing-the-risk-of-dementia/reduce-your-risk-of-dementia/alcohol

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6957093/#abstract1

Comments

I like how you explained the claim about alcohol and dementia risk. You included good information from trusted sources, especially the study from the American Academy of Neurology. One thing I’d suggest is to think about how People.com, which mainly focuses on entertainment, presents serious health information. Even though they might reference studies, it's important to check if they give enough scientific details. Did the article explain how alcohol affects people differently, or did it just make general statements? Looking more into how the study was explained in the article could help make your fact-check even stronger.

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Really good job citing multiple studies! I liked how you explained that everyone’s body tolerates alcohol differently. You could maybe strengthen your claim even more by linking directly to the *Neurology* journal study, just to show the primary source more clearly.

Answer 2

People Magazines generalized claim that "As little as 8 alcoholic drinks a week can contribute to dementia" is true in that it is not claiming any specific data that has not been proven. People's initial source was not a very strong one, so I proceeded to check that sources source. After doing some research on this one, I was not convinced that it was reliable.

It was from here that I decided to seek out a government source that listed the exact details of the experiment on the link between heavy drinking and dementia. The conclusion states that 14 drinks a week is clearly linked to dementia. However a single "drink" varies in the amount of alcohol consumed and I don't believe that People Magazine's claim is too different from these scientific meanings to be misleading or false. Generally, drinking everyday of the week is correlated with dementia.

Comments

Edit*
Souces:
government source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6957093/

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I like how you were critical of People Magazine as a source — it’s true that entertainment magazines don’t always offer detailed scientific info. Still, you mentioned the claim is “true,” so maybe adding more direct support from the *Neurology* study or the American Academy of Neurology would help solidify your fact-check.

Answer 3

The statement that "As little as 8 alcoholic drinks a week can contribute to dementia" appears to be true. After looking at scientific daily's website it seems to be a trustworthy site, and it makes sense that alcohol does damage to the brain. In another website I looked at, it said that alcohol-related dementia, or alcohol-induced major neurocognitive disorder, is a serious type of brain damage and is caused by long-term heavy drinking. This condition results in various cognitive issues, including memory loss, trouble focusing, and difficulties with making decisions and managing emotions. So yes, drinking too much alcohol for a long time can lead to both physical and functional harm to the brain, impacting memory, awareness of surroundings, and decision-making skills. A study from 2022 revealed that people who drank three units of alcohol every day for a month experienced a decrease in both white and gray matter in their brains, making them seem about three and a half years older.

Sources: Eight or more drinks per week linked to signs of injury in the brain | ScienceDaily 

Alcoholic Dementia: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Comments

This comment is very educational and straight to the point. I think your answer was very fitting to the claim, and I liked that you did research about other effects of heavy drinking. It supported your answer and gave it more credibility. But next time, to go even further with that credibility, talk more about where the information you found came from and how those sites and trustworthy, primarily without using phrases like "it seems" or "it makes sense". Instead strong language like "which is" and "which connects to"

Answer 4

This claim is true, but with important context. The article on People.com references findings from a study published by the American Academy of Neurology. According to the study, consuming even moderate amounts of alcohol, like 8 drinks a week, is associated with increased risks of brain shrinkage and cognitive decline over time.

http://(https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/4955

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6957093/

Comments

I like how you expanded on the claim of dementia, explaining the effects that are caused from drinking. It would be interesting to hear more connecting how cognitive decline can be interlinked, like time frames and correlation!

Answer 5

I think this is a true and trustworthy claim and source. Firstly, this article was published by people magazine, which is a very reputable source with a high reputation. The title was accurate, there was publishing information and author credibility right on the front, which leads me to believe that this is a good source for educational purposes. In my proof, I found another article similar to this one, from a medically published source called "Medical News Today". The article is very similar to the one above, who created a study regarding how alchohol affects our health and brain. The study proved that "heavy drinkers were spcifically at 133% increased risk for hyaline arteriolosclerosis. Heavy and former heavy drinkers were also at an increased risk for neurofibrillary tangles, which are related to Alzheimers disease pathology" (Freeborn 2025). THhs article proves the statement that alcohol is indeed linked towards dimentia and alzheimers.  https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/alcohol-use-could-contribute-to-dementia-by-damaging-the-brain

Answer 6

The People website tends to be centered around celebrity bias which makes me believe that this source can't entirely be trusted. They report on drama and gossip and sometimes report news that hasn't been fact checked beforehand. But after reading this article about 8 drinks per week leading the dementia I was able to see that respectable sources were cited and mentioned to back up the claims being made. There were many true claims made about how drinking heavily can lead to brain injuries later on in life. It was stated that in the study done by Neurology that they investigated the brain tissue of those who had drinking problems and are now dead. The scientific facts show that drinking more leads to potential brain lesions which make it harder for blood to flow and your brain to function. Basic functions like retaining memories and thinking in general start to diminish which essentially leads to dementia forming. Everything stated was true and backed up with a scientific article but claiming that more than 8 drinks per week leads to dementia was slightly fabricated. In an article published by Alzheimer's Society it was proven that the true number of drinks per week that can lead to dementia is around 14 or more. They also state that this isn't a direct effect of drinking this much but is simply an increased chance of getting dementia. By drinking less than this amount per week you would be lowering your chances of this happening. I think that the original statement made wasn't entirely true but still had reliable sources to make up the other facts mentioned.

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/managing-the-risk-of-dementia/reduce-your-risk-of-dementia/alcohol#:~:text=This%20can%20lead%20to%20issues,skills%20as%20people%20get%20older.