More alcohol, less brain: Study finds an association that begins with an average of just one drink a day

[Mito]

"It's not linear," says Daviet. "It gets worse the more you drink."

More alcohol, less brain: Study finds an association that begins with an average of just one drink a day

The science on heavy drinking and the brain is clear: The two don't have a healthy relationship. People who drink heavily have alterations in brain structure and size that are associated with cognitive impairments.

medicalxpress.com

 

[Sitaruîm]

Even if it is an epidemiological study, it should not be underestimated, it having so many participants. I have a few questions that probably require experiments to reach an answer. For example, is the result on brain size the same if I drink 1 alcohol unit each day as opposed to 7 alcohol units once a week? An alcohol unit is just 10ml, and when people go out and "get going" they tend to drink much more than that. Would there be no effect on brain size if I drink, say, 4 units once a week?

 

[Mito]

“Going from zero to one alcohol units didn't make much of a difference in brain volume, but going from one to two or two to three units a day was associated with reductions in both gray and white matter.”


“A unit of alcohol is defined there as 10 millilitres (8 grams) of pure alcohol.[8][9] This definition is independent of the strength (% ABV) and amount (volume) of any individual alcoholic beverage. The number of units of alcohol in a bottle or can (and, optionally, the number of units in a typical serving) are indicated on the drink container. Typical servings deliver 1–3 units of alcohol.[10]”

Standard drink - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MyUsernameHere]

But if you want to lower your risk of heart disease, a shot or two per day is where it's at:

Serum paraoxonase-1 activity is associated with light to moderate alcohol consumption: the PREVEND cohort study - PubMed

Alcohol consumption is associated with an increase in serum PON-1 activity, but its effect seems to reach a plateau with alcohol consumption of 10-30 g/d.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Daily moderate alcohol consumption increases serum paraoxonase activity; a diet-controlled, randomised intervention study in middle-aged men

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. Part of this inverse association may be explained by its effects on HDL. Paraoxonase, an HDL-associated enzyme, has been suggested to protect against LDL oxidation. We examined the effects of moderate...

www.atherosclerosis-journal.com

 

[Frankdee20]

Yeah, this is true, I have been a heavy drinker for the last ten years. I’m fried, but I don’t care, if I don’t drink, I will only have a lifetime of depression and darkness to look forward to. If it wasn’t for alcohol, I would never experience mood elevation. I don’t expect to live past 50

 

[Phosphor]

I've known two people who ended their lives in extreme Alzeimer's and both were alcoholics. It's not like you just go along fine-fine and suddenly fall off the cliff; you decline, decline, decline, become unmanageable due to brain damage and have to be VERY expensively "put in a home" and it about kills your loved ones having to watch. I don't drink and I think that "one glass of red wine is good for you" is pure BS marketing from the wine industry. Of course alcohol is not the only cause of dementia but it is a cause that can be eliminated.

For the person who drinks for depression, likely the alcohol itself is a cause of the depression, and there are severe nutritional factors in play. Were I in that boat (and I have the genetics for alcoholism, which I learned pretty early on) ... I'd make sure my environment was not moldy (mold genetics are a likely factor,) my nutritional status was stellar, and then I'd go see an Eden Energy Medicine practitioner and get my energies straightened out over time, and start a new, happier life.

 

[JudiBlueHen]

But history...before large-scale water purification, it was common to drink diluted beer, mead, or wine (depending on the culture) all day long. I cannot believe a LIMITED amount of alcohol fairly often is a bad thing.

I personally don't give a rat's behind what today's science says, because it is always framed in a limited context - compared to "what" exactly? or the statistical "adjustments" make the results meaningless. I read studies because there might be a fragment of truth or inference I can use to connect the dots of whatever i am interested in.

 

[Jaydogg23]

These studies on reduced brain grey matter and light to moderate drinking are ridiculous. In fact, some studies have shown that people with smaller brain volumes, less grey matter, are more predisposed to becoming alcoholics. So is it correlation or causation?

Here’s a study below saying daily coffee/caffeine reduce grey matter in brain.

As for me, I will continue to drink my coffee and 1 shot whiskey every day and enjoying life.

Drinking coffee daily is associated with less gray matter in the brain

This doesn't mean that caffeine makes you dumb, though.

www.zmescience.com

 

[TheSir]

Any method of instant gratification can't be that good for brain health.

 

[Frankdee20]

I've known two people who ended their lives in extreme Alzeimer's and both were alcoholics. It's not like you just go along fine-fine and suddenly fall off the cliff; you decline, decline, decline, become unmanageable due to brain damage and have to be VERY expensively "put in a home" and it about kills your loved ones having to watch. I don't drink and I think that "one glass of red wine is good for you" is pure BS marketing from the wine industry. Of course alcohol is not the only cause of dementia but it is a cause that can be eliminated.

For the person who drinks for depression, likely the alcohol itself is a cause of the depression, and there are severe nutritional factors in play. Were I in that boat (and I have the genetics for alcoholism, which I learned pretty early on) ... I'd make sure my environment was not moldy (mold genetics are a likely factor,) my nutritional status was stellar, and then I'd go see an Eden Energy Medicine practitioner and get my energies straightened out over time, and start a new, happier life.

I can only hope my life ends before I become an alcoholic vegetable. I’m having Short term memory loss, but then again, I have terrible insomnia. I sleep one or two solid hours per night. So tell me how you’d feel after months of that.