Heavy drinkers have the lowest IQs, study claims

alcohol than those with higher IQs, a new study has claimed.

The study, which was carried out by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, surveyed 49,321 Swedish men who were born between 1949 to 1951 and were conscripted for Swedish military service from 1969 to 1971. IQ tests done upon conscription, alcohol intake, pattern of drinking, tobacco use, and medical conditions were all examined.

The results showed that men with lower results on their IQ test consumed higher levels of alcohol, leading the team to conclude that "a higher IQ results in healthier lifestyle choices".

Sara Sjölund a student at the Institutet and corresponding author for the study, said that this was the first study to find "consistent" links between "cognitive ability and alcohol-related probems".

The team noted, however, that factors including economic background and social status could also play a part in how much people drank.

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Daniel Falkstedt, assistant professor in the Department of Public Heath Sciences at the Insitutet, said that it was probably the low IQ which causes the higher alcohol consumption and not the other way around.

"The authors seem to be able to explain a large part of the association between IQ and heavy drinking. I think this may be a main message of this large cohort study: poor performance on IQ tests tend to go along with other disadvantages, for instance, poorer social background and emotional problems, which may explain the association with risky alcohol consumption."

"In reality, other differences of importance are likely to exist among the men, which could further explain the IQ-alcohol association."

Sjölund noted that the results of her study might vary across different cultures and countries, especially in regards to women. "We must be very careful in making any attempt to generalize our results to women, since their level of consumption and patterns of drinking likely differ in comparison with men," she said.

In 2010, a study by the London School of Economics claimed that, in sharp contrast to this study, the cleverest women are the heaviest drinkers, finding that women who achieved high test marks as school children are more likely to drink daily as adults.

The Swedish study was published in the Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research journal, 

 

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New findings show a link between a lower IQ and and alcohol consumption amongst young men,