ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1569069
Moderate Alcohol Consumption Does Not Protect Cognitive Function When Controlling for Socioeconomic Income and Cultural Factors
Provisionally accepted
- 1Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
- 2Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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Alcohol consumption is commonly considered to be a modifiable risk factor in cognitive decline. However, numerous studies have found an association between light to moderate consumption of alcohol and enhanced cognitive function. It has been proposed that this finding is due to the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) or other covariates on drinking behaviours. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of alcohol on cognition, and the impact of different socioeconomic indicators on this relationship.Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey, including an assessment of 5 domains of cognitive function, was conducted in 123 healthy adults between 18 and 70 years of age. Secondary analysis of the 2018 National Health Survey was conducted to investigate drinking patterns, and their relationships to SES indicators, in the Australian population.Results: Income and education showed dissimilar patterns of association with alcohol consumption. Enhancements in cognitive function were associated with light to moderate dose and frequency of alcohol consumption when unadjusted, or adjusted for SES using education level as an indicator. Benefits of light to moderate dose and frequency of consumption were not evident when using income as an indicator for SES. Inclusion of language spoken in the home as a covariate also resolved any association between moderate consumption and enhanced cognitive function.Discussion: Findings suggest that associations between moderate alcohol consumption and cognition are an artefact of income, language proficiency, and culture. The use of income is more indicative of drinking behaviour than education, and should be controlled for in studies
Keywords: Cognition, alcohol, Socioeconomic status, Income, Language
Received: 31 Jan 2025; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gillespie, Kemps, White and Bartlett. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kerri Marie Gillespie, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
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