Posted on 12/31/2020 11:21:33 AM PST by Red Badger
Harm prevention policies must take the long view, say experts.
The evidence for the harmful effects of alcohol on brain health is compelling, but now experts have pin-pointed three key time periods in life when the effects of alcohol are likely to be at their greatest.
Writing in The BMJ in December 2020, researchers in Australia and the UK say evidence suggests three periods of dynamic brain changes that may be particularly sensitive to the harmful effects of alcohol: gestation (from conception to birth), later adolescence (15-19 years), and older adulthood (over 65 years).
They warn that these key periods “could increase sensitivity to the effects of environmental exposures such as alcohol” and say harm prevention policies “must take the long view.”
Globally, around 10% of pregnant women consume alcohol, with the rates considerably higher in European countries than the global average, they write.
Heavy alcohol use during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, associated with widespread reductions in brain volume and cognitive impairment. But data suggest that even low or moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy is significantly associated with poorer psychological and behavioral outcomes in offspring.
In terms of adolescence, more than 20% of 15-19 year olds in European and other high income countries report at least occasional binge drinking (defined as 60 g of ethanol on a single occasion), they add.
Studies indicate that the transition to binge drinking in adolescence is associated with reduced brain volume, poorer white matter development (critical for efficient brain functioning), and small to moderate deficits in a range of cognitive functions.
And in older people, alcohol use disorders were recently shown to be one of the strongest modifiable risk factors for all types of dementia (particularly early onset) compared with other established risk factors such as high blood pressure and smoking.
Although alcohol use disorders are relatively rare in older adults, the authors point out that even moderate drinking has been shown to be linked to a small but significant loss of brain volume in midlife, although further studies are needed to test whether these structural changes translate into functional impairment.
Furthermore, demographic trends may compound the effect of alcohol use on brain health, they write. For example, women are now just as likely as men to drink alcohol and experience alcohol related harms, and global consumption is forecast to rise further in the next decade.
The effects of the covid-19 pandemic on alcohol use and related harms are unclear, but alcohol use increased in the long term after other major public health crises, they add.
As such, they call for an integrated approach to harm reduction at all ages.
“Population based interventions such as guidelines on low risk drinking, alcohol pricing policies, and lower drink driving limits need to be accompanied by the development of training and care pathways that consider the human brain at risk throughout life,” they conclude.
Reference:
“Lifetime perspective on alcohol and brain health” by Louise Mewton, Briana Lees and Rahul Tony Rao, 4 December 2020, BMJ. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m4691
I wonder what the human blood alcohol level is that is toxic to viruses?....................
I was a big beer drinker most of my life but I could never stand those IPAs. Way too hoppy for me.
Interesting experiment, wouldn’t it be?
Foster Brooks would be living proof, if he were still alive...
OK, they convinced me. I’ll stop drinking. Next week.
I bet he didn’t die of a virus!...................
Interesting that... ex-wife perhaps a candidate for the Keith Richards Society for Longevity.
Compare ... maternal side of large family:
non-drinkers - 2 aunts (62, 67)
very infrequently - Mom (91).
occasional - 2 uncles (90**); 1 aunt (alive at 95);
daily (1 - 3 beers/day) 5 aunts (60, 86*, 88*, 91*, 92*).
* = tobacco smokers
** - leaf tobacco chaw
All ate red meat, including fried baloney. All laughed, prayed, loved their country, family, strong values, ... adapted to life’s changes.
Neighbor lady: Athletic, vegan ... dead at 45.
Conclusion: Living is fatal. No one knows why some can beat the “experts” on how to live for eternity on earth.
Oh ... Happy New Year!
I learned this from Dean Wormer a looong time ago.
“...but it makes the people around you smarter and better looking!”
Living in a college town, I see leftists that I don’t think either of those would occur no matter how much brain matter were destroyed.
You’d win that bet; he didn’t.
I have had one glass of d'Yquem in my life. After that I stopped saying that I disliked sweet wine.
Got her phone number...?
This will be my first. I even made a French apple tart to go with it.
I have cheese too.
The cost is prohibitive for me, at any rate. My children are very generous.
So a 12 ounce can of beer that is 4% alcohol would only have .48 ounces of ethanol correct?
Alcohol kills brain cells, but only the week ones. And then in my best Irish accent ‘wellll, I’m getting smarter every day.’
Wild Turkey 101 from the freezer...on ice.
~and smoking pot leads to brain-dead syndrome..
Abe Lincoln said that in his experience, folks with no vices offered few virtues. I agree.
Only in moderation and socially with good ole friends such as Jack, Jim, Jose and Samuel. (’
My Grandparents were from Romania and had a small fruit farm. They use to hire mostly old Hungarian and Romanian men to help on the farm. Since the water was so bad in their home countries they use to drink a 8 to 10 once glass of wine at lunch and supper time. They almost all lived well into their 80s and 90s. Of course maybe that was because they never went to doctors.
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