Establishing links between alcohol intake, cognitive functions and type 2 diabetes

Abstract

In the present report, we studied the associations that might exist between alcohol consumption, cognitive functions and diabetic pathology in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The alcohol intake of 219 patients diagnosed with diabetes was classified into 6 groups: nondrinkers, 0.1-9.9, 10.0-14.9, 15.0-29.9, 30.0-49.9 and ≥ 50.0, according to the total amount (grams/day) of alcohol consumption. Our results mainly confirm that moderate alcohol consumption can reduce some of the neuropathological aspects of T2D, as demonstrated by the decrease in glycemic levels in patients that consumed higher levels of alcohol (30.0-49.9 g/day), when compared to non-drinkers (p=0.04) or groups in which individuals consumed 0.1-9.9 g/day (p=0.01) and 10.0-14.9 g/day (p=0.02). Regarding the results of cognitive testing, we noticed a significant increase in the values of the MMSE score a lower dose of alcohol intake (0.1-9.9 g/day) was compared with higher doses: 30.0-49.9 g/day (p=0.008) and ≥ 50.0 g/day (p=0.047).

Keywords

• Type 2 diabetes
• alcohol intake
• cognitive functions