Despite the pleasures that may result from a wild Friday night, alcohol is harmful to our health. Not just enormous amounts either.
In recent years, researchers have shown that even a modest level of alcohol use is associated with cardiovascular problems and brain harm. Recent research examining over 36,000 individuals has also put the boot in, showing that increasing the number of ‘units’ of alcohol consumed each day from one to two is associated with decreasing brain tissue – the equivalent of two years of age. These results are at odds with scientific and regulatory recommendations on safe drinking limits for children and adults.
For instance, but even though the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism advises that women drink just one drink each day, averaged, the suggested limitations for males are twice that much, a quantity that surpasses the consumption level linked with lower brain capacity in the research.
The studyresearch can only show a correlation between alcohol use and brain changes
The scientists from the United States and Europe examined data from 36,678 persons (from middle age and older) who participated in the UK Biobank, which is a major, lengthy observational study that was established in the United Kingdom.
An individual’s self-reported quantity of “units” consumed each week or month was made available to the investigators. For the purposes of the research, the units a week month were transformed into units per day. Researchers had also access to MRI information for each of the individuals, which allowed researchers to assess the dimensions of the individuals’ brains regarding the gray and white matter, as well as their overall brain size.
After adjusting for variables such as age, BMI, and gender, the researchers discovered a negative relationship between alcohol use and the brain architecture of the individuals in their study. This was observed throughout the entire brain, but the highest volume increases were observed in three parts of the cortex: the brain stem, the putamen, and the amygdala, which are all located in the prefrontal cortex.
