A new major study published in Nature says that having just one standard drink a day can reduce the volume of brain matter. Our brains naturally shrink as we age, affecting various cognitive functions like memory, decision-making skills and learning. But after analysing 36,678 brain scans of middle-aged adults stored by the UK Biobank, the study found that 50yos who drank a pint of beer or glass of wine every day over a year tended to have brains that appeared 2 years older than those who drank half a beer. And researchers said it’s worse for those who drank more – 4 daily servings aged brains by more than 10 years. It’s the clearest association between drinking and brain volume to date, but experts reckon that looking at the effect of alcohol consumption over one’s lifetime – rather than just over a year – would provide better data. No cheers to that…