yAlcohol is known to have many negative consequences, especially when consumed in excess, and a study has been launched in recent days that adds another point to the list of negatives. Researchers have confirmed that drinking more than four glasses of wine per week, for example, can speed up aging.

This is the conclusion of experts from the University of Oxford, UK, who studied the data of almost 250 thousand, entered into the British Biobank – a database of scientific studies.

The people who participated in this study published in the scientific journal Molecular PsychiatryThey were broken down by gender and had a mean age of 57 years. Most drank alcohol regularly and only 3% said they had never drunk alcohol.

Analyzing all the data, they came to the conclusion that people who drink, on average, more than 17 units of alcohol per week, have shorter telomeres. They also found that participants who drank less, compared to this, were not at risk of developing shorter telomeres.

The Mail Online, a British media outlet, explains that telomeres are a type of “biological covering” at the ends of chromosomes that protect DNA from damage. It is normal for them to get shorter with age, however, they can shorten earlier in people who drink a lot of alcohol.

Although the study was able to provide some conclusive answers, the researchers still couldn’t explain which property of alcohol affects the length of telomeres.

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