The festive season is fast approaching – a time of joy, celebration and, often, increased alcohol consumption.
But “heavy drinkers” have been warned they could be putting themselves at increased risk of the deadliest form of stroke, with scientists revealing exactly how many pints or glasses of wine a day it takes to put them in danger.
An American study found people who regularly down three or more alcoholic drinks a day are more likely to experience intracerebral haemorrhage – a type of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain – 11 years earlier than non-heavy drinkers.
They were also three times more likely to show signs of brain ageing.
Additionally, the sobering findings, published in the journal Neurology, show heavy drinkers were more likely to show signs of cerebral small vessel disease, which is damage to small blood vessels in the brain and a type of long-term brain damage.
Study lead author Dr Edip Gurol, of Harvard University, Boston, said: “Intracerebral haemorrhage is the most deadly type of stroke with cerebral small vessel disease being its leading cause.”
