People who consume 14 or more alcoholic drinks per week have brains that are an average of 1.6 percent smaller than nondrinkers', The Age reported May 3.

Researchers led by Carol Ann Paul of Wellesley College used MRI scans to measure the brain size of a group of 1,800 drinkers and nondrinkers. Paul said that alcohol seemed to shrink the brains of women slightly more than men.

"Generally speaking, (brain) volume is related to processing power," said Richard Cash, a brain-injury researcher not affiliated with the study.

The research was unveiled at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. Previous studies have shown that moderate drinkers have smaller brains than nondrinkers, and that alcoholic women lose brain mass at twice the rate of alcoholic men.