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Less drink to think?

In this Sunday, March 22, 2009 photo, a man carries two beers back to his seat during a spring training baseball game in Kissimmee, Fla. Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study released Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 found. (Rob Carr / Associated Press)
In this Sunday, March 22, 2009 photo, a man carries two beers back to his seat during a spring training baseball game in Kissimmee, Fla. Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study released Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 found. (Rob Carr / Associated Press)

Yet another study on alcohol and its effects on the brain: heavy drinking among men in mid-life accelerates the rate of memory loss. The journal Neurology reports that men during mid-life who drink more than 2.5 drinks daily may speed their rate of memory loss by nearly six years. Oddly, among women, moderate drinkers fared better in cognition than women who abstained. Stay tuned. Studies on alcohol consumption, like those that assess caffeine’s benefits, seem to continue – and often challenge each other’s findings.

(S-R archive photo)

Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.