A major study published in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine suggests that any level of alcohol consumption may raise the risk of developing dementia. The analysis found that even light drinking, which earlier observational studies often portrayed as protective, does not appear to reduce risk. Higher genetic risk for all 3 exposure levels was associated with an increased risk of dementia, with a linear increase in dementia risk the higher the alcohol consumption. And a doubling in the genetic risk of alcohol dependency was associated with a 16% increase in dementia risk. Instead, dementia risk steadily increased with more genetically predicted drinking.