Cognitive decline is a feature of normal aging that appears to be exacerbated by alcohol use and abuse. Acute alcohol intake by older individuals is associated with reduced cognitive function and blunted neural responses that mediate higher order working memory and attention as compared to younger adults (Lewis, Garcia, Boissoneault, Price, & Nixon, 2019; Squeglia, Boissoneault, Van Skike, Nixon, & Matthews, 2014). Moreover, magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that moderate, nondependent, alcohol use (Mukamal, Longstreth, Mittleman, Crum, & Siscovick, 2001) or moderate alcohol use combined with reduced physical activity (Bittner et al., 2019) is associated with loss of gray matter in older adults, which may contribute to alcohol-induced cognitive decline. However, other evidence suggests that moderate alcohol use does not alter age-related cognitive decline (Moussa et al., 2014) suggesting that the conditions under which low to moderate levels of alcohol use may impact health and well-being in older populations are not fully understood.
