The good news – if
you’ve ever done something really
stupid at the end of a wine-intensive
evening (and we’re just speculating
here – not naming any names), now
you have a bona fide medical excuse. According
to the Journal
of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
and Dr. Motoo Kubota, heavy alcohol consumption
literally makes your brain shrink.
The bad news – Heavy
alcohol consumption literally makes your
brain shrink. Wait, did I already say
that?
According to the report,
heavy drinking speeds up the shrinkage
of the brain, an occurrence that happens
anyway as individuals age. Specifically,
the report found, alcohol affects the
frontal lobe of the brain – the part
that controls emotions, planning and other
higher behavior.
The study examined nearly
1,500 individuals, who were divided into
age ranges and alcohol consumption level
categories. The results concluded that
while age plays the most significant role
in brain shrinkage, heavy alcohol consumption
seems to exaggerate this shrinkage in
social drinkers. The contributory
rate of alcohol consumption for frontal
lobe shrinkage was reported
to be 11.3%.
Moderate alcohol consumption
does not seem to affect brain
volume.
SOURCE: Journal of
Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
2001;71:104-106.
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