Posted on 11/27/2004 7:05:27 PM PST by neverdem
REALLY?
THE FACTS When ancient Greeks wanted to reassure guests that their wine had not been spiked with poison, they toasted to good health. While that may be less of a worry today, there remain hazards from indulging in too much alcohol - including, of course, hangovers. But one thing people who drink socially probably don't need to worry about is sacrificing brain cells in the process.
The research indicates that adults who drink in moderation are not in danger of losing brain cells.
The notion that alcohol snuffs out brain cells has been around for years. Many studies have linked drinking with mental deficits, and long-term damage from years of heavy drinking has been well documented. The developing brain is particularly vulnerable, some studies show, putting teenagers and unborn children at greatest risk.
But Dr. Roberta J. Pentney, a former researcher at the State University of New York at Buffalo, found that alcohol disrupts brain function in adults by damaging message-carrying dendrites on neurons in the cerebellum, a structure involved in learning and motor coordination. This reduces communication between neurons, alters their structure and causes some of the impairment associated with intoxication. It does not kill off entire cells, however.
A study in 1999 that examined the brains of alcoholics appeared to confirm this. Published in the journal Neuroscience, the research found that subjects who developed Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a severe disorder that ravages the memory and stems from a thiamine deficiency associated with alcoholism, had a marked reduction in cell density in the cerebellum.
But there was little difference between alcoholics who did not develop the syndrome and normal subjects, suggesting that it was largely a lack of thiamine in the Wernicke-Korsakoff patients that killed off their cells.
Other studies, including one published in The British Medical Journal in 1997, have produced similar findings.
THE BOTTOM LINE Alcohol may not kill brain cells per se, but it can impair brain function, among other things.
ANAHAD O'CONNOR
scitimes@nytimes.com
GOOD pic! i had to do a doubletake and i haven't even had a drop! :D
LOL........She's a looker huh !
I'll prost to that!
I'm in love!
I'm getting fit-shaced. ;)
What boat?
ROTFLMAO !........ya'll have me cryin this evening.
Too funny !
Stay safe !
I'm an alcoholic, and as a result am not at leisure to recommend drinking or not doing so to those that can drink moderately. The fact is that I ruined my own drinking privilege. Progressing into deep middle age has hurt my memory a bit. I can't remember nearly with the sharpness I used to. This may have to do with years of excessive drinking, but perhaps not.
Unlike other potentially dangerous activities, such as driving or target shooting, the person who is affected negatively by alcohol does not notice the increasing grip drinking gains on his life until it is too late to stop.
It is the miracle of my life that I am sober today and have been so for more than fifteen years. When people recommend drinking as a means of obtaining better health, I always advise great care.
I drive,target shoot and drink lots of beer,also like mustard based BBQ sauce.You can do all these things and like all of them and not be an alcoholic.If you can drink and drink with the best of them,then stop when you want and have no more till tou meet up again then there is nothing wrong with that.AA people piss me off.
Here! Here!! I have been following this practice for years!
The brain regenerates and the level of alcohol Will only be high enough to kill brains cells in binge drinking.
So.....You're saying my weekly habit of 28 beers in a single night ain't so good?
You have my sincere wish for good luck in your sobriety. I've known quite a few who couldn't drink in moderation. Drinking killed a number of them.
That is the Buffalo Theary that Cliff Clavin on the television show Cheers put forth.
Just as the slowest and sickest Buffaloes get killed off, therefore making the herd as a whole more healthy, only the weak and sick brain cells get killed off by alchohol.
That is why you always feel smarter after a couple of beers.
"BTW - father-in-law loves buttermilk, fatty meat, and puts like 2 tbs. of butter on everything!"
Sounds like me - I'm on the Atkins diet and also have healthy cholesterol levels. Rye and Ginger for me.
bookmark!
I was stating an opinion based on my own experience. You can get as drunk and angry as you want. But AA is a topnotch organization. And yes, I could drink with the best of them, in amounts that would kill some people of alcohol poisoning. It almost did me in.
By the time I stopped I had yellow skin, my liver hanging on top of my belly and I vomited blood each day. People called me "Mr.Lifesavers" because I stuck half a pack between cheek and gum prior to taking the morning drink.
If my story offends you, then drink up. Get as loaded as you want. But you are the antagonist here, not me.
Funny you should say that.
An old employee/friend of mine (more like one of the family, he was with us before I was born), had a bad drinking problem for years.
Eventually he lost his driving licence and had to prove sobriety for 6 months to get it back (after a 2 year ban). He did this and then decided to keep off the booze for good.
He was dead (of a heart attack) within within a year. He'd had no previous cardio problems, wasn't overweight (although he did smoke quite heavily) and there was no warning. Just one massive attack.
His widow told me that one of the doctors at the hospital he was taken too said that giving up the drink may have been a contibutory factor.
So there you go, mine's a large one!
bttt
(Right Wing Nuts hold the country together as the loose screws of the left fall out!)
I like that!
And I firmly believe that is why it has been demonized. Some think that workers are supposed to work and not have any fun that might detract from their purpose in life – working.
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