Heavy Drinking can lead to a severe health crisis like liver damage, arrhythmias, high blood pressure, and brain damage, among others. And now, a new study has revealed that people who drink eight or more alcoholic drinks every week have an increased risk of brain damage, including memory and thinking problems.
It causes hyaline arteriolosclerosis – when small blood vessels narrow and become thick and stiff, making it harder for blood to flow. This damages the brain over time. Initially, this condition appears as lesions (areas of damaged tissue in the brain).
The study, which was published by the journal Neurology, highlighted that heavy drinkers also died an average of 13 years earlier than those who never drank. Dr Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo, the study’s author, said heavy alcohol consumption is a major global health concern linked to increased health problems and death.
He shared that researchers looked at how alcohol affects the brain as people get older and found that it damages the brain. This can lead to memory loss and thinking problems. The research team looked at 1,781 people who had an average age of 75 when they died and examined brain tissue to look for signs of brain injury. They also measured the brain weight and the height of each participant and detailed their alcohol consumption.
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Heavy Drinking: Brain Damage Evident In Heavy Drinkers
The researchers divided the participants into four groups – 965 people who never drank, 319 ‘moderate drinkers’ who had seven or fewer drinks per week, 129 ‘heavy drinkers’ who had eight or more drinks per week, and 368 former heavy drinkers.
The study defined ‘one drink’ as having 14 grams of alcohol – this is about 350ml of beer, 150ml of wine, or 45 ml of distilled spirits. It highlighted that 40 percent (4 out of 10) of those who never drank had vascular brain lesions, 45 percent of the moderate drinkers had vascular brain lesions, and 44 percent of the heavy drinkers also had vascular brain lesions. Of the former heavy drinkers, 50 percent had vascular brain lesions.
Researchers found that heavy and former heavy drinkers were more likely to develop tau tangles. In addition to brain injuries, impaired cognitive abilities were observed only in former drinkers. Dr Justo said heavy drinking is directly linked to signs of injury in the brain and this may cause long-term effects on brain health.
