Key clinical point: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may influence the relationship between alcohol consumption and dementia risk. In addition, alcohol dose and the frequency of alcohol intake correlate with cognitive decline and the risk of dementia.

Major finding: Among participants with MCI at baseline, the adjusted hazard ratio for dementia was 1.72 for those who consumed more than 14 drinks per week, compared with light drinkers who consumed less than 1 drink per week.

Study details: An analysis of data from 3,021 participants in the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study.

Disclosures: The study was supported by grants from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine; the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institute on Aging; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center; the Roena Kulynych Center for Memory and Cognition Research; and Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Authors disclosed university and government grants and personal fees from pharmaceutical companies outside the study. One author was an employee of Genentech at the time of publication, but Genentech did not contribute to the study.