Not drinking in middle age increases the risk of dementia as much as drinking too much, according to a new report. Published in the British Medical Journal, the data showed that abstinence (drinking no alcohol) in midlife was associated with a 45% higher risk of dementia compared with people who consumed between 1 and 14 units of alcohol per week. The risk of dementia increased steadily for higher rates of consumption. However, the report’s authors concluded that the underlying mechanisms leading to dementia for heavy drinkers and those abstaining were probably different. The study did not take into account the subjects’ drinking habits before middle age. The study tracked the drinking habits of more than 10 000 London civil servants between the ages of 35 and 55 from 1985 to 1993. They were then monitored for, on average, another 23 years. Of 10 308 baseline participants, a total of 397 cases of dementia were recorded over a mean follow-up period of 23.2 years.