The excessive alcohol drinking, shrinks’ brain, a new study has found.

“The take-home message is that, if you drink a lot, you’re going to hurt your brain. This is something we knew, but this is a huge study that quantifies that.” said Rajesh Miranda, an associate professor of Health Science Center College of Medicine.

Brain degenerates naturally with aging, at a rate of about 1.9 percent per decade. Simultaneously, the brain gains white matter lesions. Both of these changes are accompanist of dementia and cognitive decline.

For the study, researchers conducted MRI and health examination on 1,839 adults, aged up to 60. None of the participants had evidence of clinical dementia or had suffered a stroke.

The men and women were asked, how much alcohol they drank in a weak, then were categorized in low (1 to 7 drinks per week), moderate (8 to 14 drinks per week) or heavy drinkers (14 or more drinks a week).

Most participants fell into the “low-consumption” class. Men were more likely than women to report being moderate or heavy drinkers.

Alcohol had no protective affect on the normal, age-related shrinkage in brain volume, the researchers found.

Instead, the more a person drank, the more their brain volume reduced. This factor was more prominent in women than men, though women tended to be lighter drinkers.

“The gender difference could be explained by biological factors, namely that alcohol is absorbed faster in women and they tend to feel the effects of alcohol more than men.” researchers said.