Even moderate drinking may damage the brain

Conclusion The results in this study indicate a link between alcohol intake – even moderate intake – and structural changes in the brain and decline in the ability to list words beginning with the same letter. The majority of cognitive functioning tests showed no association with alcohol intake. This 30 year-long study has the ability to investigate changes in cognitive ability over a long period of time but does have some limitations: The participants are all people who were civil servants in the 1980s and were mostly male and more middle class and higher IQ than the general population, meaning results might not be applicable to the UK as a whole. The effect of hippocampal atrophy was found in men and not women which may be down to the lower sample size of women and that few of them drank heavily. The information on alcohol intake was self-reported and therefore might be inaccurately reported by participants. It is difficult to link brain structure with alcohol intake when it might have been down to other confounding factors such as intelligence, cognitive stimulation and other lifestyle factors. The MRI scan only took place once, at the end of the study, so it is difficult to tell if and when any changes in brain structure took place and rule out other influencing factors. The structural changes in the brain were found to be statistically significant but it is not known if these changes are clinically significant – if they actually impact health in...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Source Type: news