Excess Drinking Shrinks the Brain ( Too much alcohol has a greater effect...)

Excess Drinking Shrinks the Brain

Date:10/13/2008

Too much alcohol has a greater effect on women, study found

MONDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- The more alcohol you drink, the more your brain shrinks, a new study has found.

"The take-home message is that, if you drink a lot, you're going to hurt your brain," said Rajesh Miranda, an associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. "This is something we knew, but this is a huge study that quantifies that."

"It's not surprising that alcohol would cause shrinkage of the brain. That kind of thing has been observed in animal models and smaller studies," Miranda added. "The surprising thing is that they [the study authors] showed that even low levels of drinking are not protective, as people had seen in other cases."

The findings are published in the October issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Brain volume decreases naturally as people age, at a rate of about 1.9 percent per decade. At the same time, the brain acquires white matter lesions as it gets older. Both of these changes also accompany dementia and cognitive decline, according to background information in the study.

Moderate levels of alcohol consumption have been linked with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, leading researchers to hypothesize that restrained tippling might also slow declines in brain volume. Previous studies have also found that drinking alcohol in moderation is associated with improved cognitive function and a decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease.

For the new study, led by Carol Ann Paul, of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, researchers conducted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and health exams on 1,839 adults (average age 60) participating in the Framingham Offspring Study between 1999 and 2001. None of the participants had evidence of clinical dementia or had suffered a stroke.

The men and women we
'/>"/>

0

GOOD

Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. School vending machines dole out excess calories, fat
2. Drinking in excess associated with increased risk for metabolic syndrome
3. Inheritance of hormonal disorder marked by excessive insulin in daughters
4. Boosting Brain Protein Quickly Cut Excessive Drinking
5. New Treatment Shows Promise for Excessive Drinking
6. Women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy
7. China Biologic Products Announces Approval for the Relocation of Fang Cheng Plasma Collection Station and for the Procurement of Excess Clinical Plasma
8. Excess Drinking Boosts Cardiovascular Disease Risk
9. U.S. Health Club Members Proclaim - I Lost It at the Club! and Lose 45 Tons of Excess Weight
10. New study sheds light on excessive drinking among the elderly
11. Novel link between excessive nutrient levels and insulin resistance

Post Your Comments:

Excess Drinking Shrinks the Brain( Too much alcohol has a greater effect...),Health