Brain volume is estimated at about 2 percent per decade and is a natural part of aging. Any level of alcohol consumption resulted in a decline in brain volume, and it was for every person involved in the survey.
Certain amounts of brain shrinkage are normal with age. In the study, Carol Ann Paul and her colleagues at the Boston University School of Public Health looked at 1,839 healthy people, with an average age of 61 years old, all of which underwent an MRI of their brain.
They discovered that the more alcohol consumed by the patients, the smaller the brain volume in the patient would be. People who abstained from alcohol had the highest brain volume, followed by former drinkers, light drinkers, who consumed one to seven drinks per week, moderate drinkers, who drank eight to 14 drinks a week, and heavy drinkers who drank 15 or more drinks a week.
According to the study, men were more likely to be heavy drinkers compared to women, but the link in smaller brain volume and alcohol wasn't as great in men as it was in women. Compared to women, men who were heavy drinkers only had a smaller brain volume than those who drank little to no alcohol.
"Alcohol is known to dehydrate tissues, and constant dehydration can have negative effects on any sensitive tissue," says Paul.
"We always knew that alcohol at higher dosages results in shrinking of the brain and cognitive deficit," says Dr. Petros Levounis , M.D., director of the Addiction Institute of New York at St. Luke's -- Roosevelt Hospital Center, who was not involved in the study. "What is new with this article is that it shows brain shrinking at lower doses of alcohol."
And while the study did show that the brain volume in drinkers is smaller, it did not demonstrate that the smaller brain volume actually impaired memory or mental function. Cheers.
I AM A JOURNALIST AND WAS WONDERING WHAT THE TAKE OF GENERAL PEOPLE IS ON THIS...ANY FEEDBACK WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Answer by JoeJonasLove
Drinking is stupid
Orignal From: Drinking alcohol shrinks brain volume...will this change anyone's consumption habits?
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