Consumption of alcohol on brain size
It was believed that heavy consumption of alcohol caused brain volume to decrease. Investigators from
Washington University (St. Louis, MO) and Duke University (Durham, NC), aren’t entirely ruling out this
thought, however, they have conducted studies that suggest that alcohol may not be the one to blame.
Their findings indicate that smaller brain volume and the predisposition to consume a fair amount of
alcohol are derived from an individual's genetic makeup. The study shows that individuals who consumed
more alcohol had “lower gray matter volume” in two regions of the brain, the dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex and the insula. Their analysis also showed that reduced brain volume in those two specific regions
were due to genetic composition. The investigators do still recognize that alcohol consumption does
reduce brain volume, however their findings suggest that “brain volumes started out lower to begin with.”
This is a very interesting idea, I could see that over consumption of alcohol could cause damage to our brains. I also do think that some people have a lower volume naturally, so it could be a combination of both.
ReplyDeleteHello Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteGreat topic to pick. This was very interesting to read about. It is great to learn about how consumption of alcohol caused brain volume to decrease. Is this why, as you get older, trying to memorize certain things are hard? Maybe this correlate with alcohol consumption when you get older?
I found this article to be very interesting because I did not expect brain volume would be a biological marker for variations that link to increased alcohol consumption. I knew that alcohol caused several health defects such as brain damage but I did not expect genetics to play a role in alcohol consumption.
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