Study shows more booze means less brain

William Atkins
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 19:05

Science - Health

The results found that even low amounts of alcohol cause the brain to shrink. Low drinkers (those that drink one to seven drinks each week, on average) had smaller brain sizes than abstainers.

The study also found the amount of brain shrinkage was more pronounced in women. They theorize that women may have heightened decreases in brain size because of their overall smaler physical size than men.

That is, with a smaller body size, the alcohol may spread through the body faster, and go into the brain faster, thus, causing more pronounced changes in the brain.

The low drinking participants had their brain volumes measured to be 78% of their total cranial volume. Abstainers had a measurement of 78.6%, a slightly larger brain volume.

The high drinking participants (drinking 14 alcoholic drinks or more each week, on average) had brain volumes that averaged 77.3% of total cranial volume.

The authors of the study state in their paper, "The public health effect of this study gives a clear message about the possible dangers of drinking alcohol. Prospective longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these results as well as to determine whether there are any functional consequences associated with increasing alcohol consumption."

Thus, the use of alcohol does not seem to protect the brain, but, in fact, seems to damage it by reducing its volume.

Reduced brain volume is also associated with such age-related diseases as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and problems with memory, learning, and thinking.