How alcohol damages the brain Science and health

A person lying on cardboard with a bottle of wine next to it warns us visually of the physical and social harms of alcohol.

However, it is much more difficult to detect the invisible damage that is, however, part of the causal chain that leads to this situation: the damage that alcohol does to the brain.

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Most people can quickly describe the acute effects of alcohol: lack of coordination, lack of inhibition, impulsivity … But few know the chronic consequences of this consumption, which respond to the neurotoxic effect of alcohol on the brain.

Neuropsychological and neurological studies show That three neural networks are particularly vulnerable: the anterior cerebellar network, which controls balance; frontals, involved in memory, motivation, and self-awareness; and the frontal aspect, which is responsible for emotional regulation, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and reward management.

Watch out for these symptoms

But how do we know if a drinker has brain damage? People around you will notice that you are slower, easily distracted, tougher, have a poor memory, make decisions without risk assessment, have difficulty regulating emotions and worse interpret the feelings of others. And all this affects the family, work and social life.

The good news is that if you stop drinking, your brain will show an improvement in both structure and function. On the other hand, while you continue to drink alcoholic beverages, Your brain will age faster than usual.

Moreover, like a dog biting its own tail, the cognitive and emotional deficits caused by alcohol consumption will undermine efforts to initiate and maintain abstinence.

Health professionals should take into account that brain injury can be an obstacle to pursuing clinical treatment, as it limits emotional self-regulation, motivation to change, interaction with others, emotional perception, and awareness of social imbalances.

However, even when these difficulties are overcome and abstinence is maintained, it may be too late for the brain.

Honest Lies and Alcohol: Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Patients with Korsakoff syndrome show damage that is difficult to treat.

This residual and largely irreversible disorder occurs in 1 in 2 cases of Wernicke’s encephalopathy, a condition caused by severe vitamin B1 deficiency and is more common in people who are malnourished and who abuse alcohol.

The prevalence is estimated to be between 25 and 50 cases per 100,000 population. But studies of cadavers indicate that this condition is underdiagnosed.

In this syndrome, damage affects an area of ​​the brain called the diencephalon, particularly the corpus callosum and nuclei of the thalamus. The deterioration is manifested above all in memory: patients suffer from amnesia syndrome, which is accompanied mainly by superstitions in the initial stages.

That is, the affected person has false memories and is convinced that they are real. Called “honest lies,” these fictional memories arise from a lack of access to memory.

Adolescents and overuse

And what about young people? Does brain damage require years of alcohol consumption? If they only drink on weekends, nothing will happen to them?

No, drink five or more units in a few hours, at least once a month, associated with Problems with memory and executive skills, which allow us to plan, control, and regulate behavior in accordance with our goals and standards.

These difficulties respond to structural and functional changes in the brain. Neuroimaging studies Neurofunctional abnormalities appear, such as excessive activation of neural networks when the response to an alcoholic beverage must be inhibited.

Volume differences were also observed in the white and gray matter of the brain in different areas related to impulse control.

It is necessary to take into account that adolescence is a period of brain vulnerability, during which important changes occur in the structure and functional connectivity of neural networks.

We should be concerned that alcohol is still seen as a less dangerous drug among 14- to 18-year-olds.

Involuntary first drunkenness: the fetal alcohol syndrome

But brain damage related to alcohol consumption can begin long before adolescence — even before birth. Its consumption during pregnancy is the cause of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome spectrum disorders, which is a completely preventable neurodevelopmental problem.

There is no safe drinking of alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol consumption during the nine months is associated with central nervous system abnormalities such as reduced head circumference, structural brain abnormalities, and neuropsychological deficits.

All this will affect the development of intellectual ability, cognitive performance and self-regulation of behavior.

Among the particularly vulnerable groups that require special attention are children from international adoptions, especially when they come from countries with high alcohol consumption.

A recent study It indicates that up to 50% of them meet the diagnostic criteria for the disorder. And one in five sufferers has the most dangerous form: fetal alcohol syndrome.

It is essential to educate the entire population about the risks to the fetus and to support pregnant women who decide to stop consuming alcohol. And don’t forget to detect and intervene early to ensure the proper academic, psychological and social development of all these children.

In short: whatever your age, if you want to take care of your brain health, the less alcohol you drink, the better.

* Montserrat Coral Varela is Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

** This article was originally published on Academic News Conversation It is republished here under a Creative Commons License. Read the original version here (in Spanish).

Article written with advice Spanish Society of Epidemiology.