A new study published in the Archives of Neurology finds drinking alcohol is associated with lower brain volumes. The more people drink, the more their brain volume decreases. Even low levels of drinking are not protective, the research shows.

Brain volume naturally decreases by 2 percent per decade, a process that comes with age. But such “bad habits,” like drinking more than two drinks a day, might speed up the shrinking of the brain.

Researchers from Wellesley College, Mass., Boston University, the Framingham Heart Study and the University of California, Davis, studied 1,839 adults, who were part of the Framingham Offspring Study, which began in 1971.

Participants in the “low-consumption” category (one to seven drinks per week) had brain volumes of 78 percent of their total cranial volume, compared with 78,6 percent in the group of abstainers. Participants who fell into the category of high consumers of alcohol (more than 14 drinks a week) had even smaller brain volumes – 77.3 percent.

An interesting finding was that the association was more pronounced in women because their body is smaller and absorbs alcohol more rapidly.

Brain volumes decreases with age at an estimated rate of 2 percent per decade. At the same time, the brain acquires white matter lesions as it gets older, a process that may contribute to cognitive decline. The study’s authors noted that drinking didn’t seem to speed the formation of white matter lesions on the brain.

“The public health effect of this study gives a clear message about the possible dangers of drinking alcohol,” the study’s authors concluded.