At the University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justa has led research into how excessive alcohol consumption affects the human brain and cardiovascular system. Published in the scientific journal Neurology, the article provides a detailed account of cognitive impairment, brain aging, and cerebral vascular lesions, including hyaline arteriolosclerosis and tau tangles, which are directly linked to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) emphasizes mental health care and how it can evolve throughout our lives.
Take special care of our nervous system
The repercusion of drinking alcohol on all of the body’s major organs the heart, brain, liver, pancreas, and kidneys, are well known – as are its impact on the central nervous system, the stomach, mouth… Heavy drinking over a long period of time can have severe health implications and lead to premature death.
One of the most recent studies looked into how alcohol consumption influence on the brain. A group of Brazilian investigators led by Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo, PhD, of University of São Paulo Medical School in Brazil, studied the long-term repercusion of excessive alcohol consumption on cognitive abilities and dementia-related neuropathology. The evidences were published in the journal Neurology, at the begining of this year.
Information was logged from a cross section of 1,781 people including moderate, heavy and former drinkers along with those who have never had a drop of the demon drink. Heavy drinkers are grouped as those who have “eight or more alcoholic drinks per week” – the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) stablished “hazardous drinking” as 15-34 units per week for women and 15-49 units per week for men. Now we will present how the alcohol can affect tp the human brain over time.
How alcohol affects the brain over time
The investigation found that excessive alcohol consumption in both heavy and former heavy drinkers growth the risk of developing brain lesions, named hyaline arteriolosclerosis, that can cause problems with memory and cognitition. Former heavy alcohol consumption was also related to reduced brain mass.
Arteriolosclerosis is a cardiovascular condition in which small blood vessels narrow – the vessel walls thicken to leave arteries stiff and tight making it harder for blood to flow.
“Heavy alcohol consumption is a major global health concern linked to increased health problems and death,” said study author Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo. “We looked at how alcohol affects the brain as people get older. Our research shows that heavy alcohol consumption is damaging to the brain, which can lead to memory and thinking problems.”
Now we are about to present the several percentages related to brain lesions:
- Of those who have never drank alcohol, 40% had vascular brain lesions.
- Of the moderate drinkers, 45% had vascular brain lesions.
- Of the heavy drinkers, 44% had vascular brain lesions.
- Of the former heavy drinkers, 50% had vascular brain lesions.
- Heavy drinkers had 133% higher odds of having vascular brain lesions in comparison to those who never drank, former heavy drinkers had 89% higher odds and moderate drinkers, 60%.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans currently recommends that men over 21 should not drink more than two drinks per day, and woman over 21 should only have one drink per day.
Cerebral conditions linked to excessive, long-term drinking
The good news is that moderate drinkers and former drinkers have lower odds of developing brain lesions. But the bad news is that former heavy drinkers were still at greater risk (31 percent odds) of developing tau tangles, a neurological biomarker associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
And if that’s not a good enough reason to cut down, the study also suggested that lifetime heavy drinkers died, on average, 13 years earlier than teetotalers.
