Social drinkers and brain damage
Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal DrugsArticle Date: 15 Apr 2004 - 0:00 PDT
'Social drinkers and brain damage'
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A new study has revealed that heavy social drinkers have the same type of brain damage as people who are hospitalised for alcoholism. The damage, apparently, is enough to affect your daily functions.
If you have more than 100 drinks a month it is likely that a brain scan will show clear damage. Your reading, balance and other function tests will most probably score low, say the researchers.
The study was carried out by scientists at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and the University of California San Francisco. They said that socially functioning heavy drinkers frequently do not recognize their level of drinking constitutes a problem that warrants treatment.
The researchers said in their report "The enrollment criterion for heavy drinkers was the consumption of more than an average of 100 alcoholic drinks per month for men over 3 years before the study and 80 drinks for women."
A drink means either - One serving of spirits (whisky, brandy, vodka, etc), a glass of wine, or a bottle/can of beer.
The researchers looked at 46 heavy drinkers and 52 light drinkers.
They used MRIs and looked at their physical brain structures. They also tested some brain chemicals (measured them) which are associated with a healthy brain.
The volunteers also had to do some cognitive tests, such as:
-- Verbal intelligence
-- Balance
-- Processing speed
-- Memory (working memory)
-- Spatial awareness and function
-- Executive function
The researchers commented "Our heavy drinkers sample was significantly impaired on measures of working memory, processing speed, attention, executive function, and balance."
As they measured brain chemicals they noticed similar levels of damage they would find among alcoholics in hospital or alcoholic treatment centres (USA Spelling: centers).
The researchers also said "What our findings indicate is that brain damage is detectable in heavy drinkers who are not in treatment and function relatively well in the community."
They said that often the heavy drinker does not see the brain impairment himself/herself.
They suggested that drinkers do so in moderation. They said that heavy drinking damages the brain slightly. It reduces cognitive function in ways that may not be readily noticeable.
The researchers definition of moderate drinking was two drinks per day for younger men and one per day for women and older men.
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MLA
26 May. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/7288.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/7288.php.
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Visitor Opinions (latest shown first)
Social Drinking Hurts...If you're predisposed to hurt others
posted by Jim Vargus on 11 Jul 2010 at 9:19 amSome people can handle their drinks, some of those people are suffering from high functioning alcoholism (which is a terrible problem as well) and some of them are just people who can stop after a few beers.
It seems as though it's difficult for anyone affected by the harmful affects of alcoholism to take a sober view of this issue. Just because you or a loved one can't stop after you (they) start, and you (they) cause pain and suffering when you (they) drink, doesn't mean most people do. One individual's relationship with alcohol is not going to resemble that of the next, and the fact of the matter is that most people can handle their alcohol in a reasonably responsible way.
Social Drinking Hurts
posted by B Hall on 15 Apr 2004 at 6:23 pmIf this study shows that 100 drinks will create clear signs of brain damage on brain scan, then how much damage will be reflected if you only have one drink per day? Only 1/3 the damage?
Yet the vast majority of our society is major denial that alcohol is harmful - it is a major cause of abuse in the home and broken families, fatal auto accidents and now brain damage.
Does anyone see a trend here?
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