but will it fall out of my head?

[Gin McGuinness]

Beer shrinks your brain
May 03, 2007 12:00
news.com.au

DRINKING around 10 schooners of beer a week can make your brain shrink, scientists have warned.

Research has shown that consuming less than two schooners a day can cut the size of your grey matter – and the more you drink, the smaller it gets.

Just two glasses of wine a day is enough to cause shrinkage more normally associated with the ageing process.

The study, which compared the drinking habits and brain size of almost 2000 people, also revealed that women are more vulnerable to alcohol's effects on the brain.

The researchers, from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, used brain scans to work out the size of the brain of 1839 middle-aged and elderly men and women.

Some of the volunteers were teetotal, while others were classified as either low drinkers, consuming up to seven drinks a week, moderate drinkers, who got through eight to 14 drinks, or high drinkers with more than 14 drinks.

The study did not take into account the size of the drinks, so a pint of beer was classed as one drink, as was a glass of wine or one of spirits.

The results from the scans were compared with the men and women's drinking habits.

This showed a clear link between alcohol and brain size, with the biggest brains belonging to the nondrinkers and the smallest to the heaviest drinkers.

The amount of shrinkage steadily increased with the amount drunk, with the heavy drinkers having brains that were 1.6 per cent smaller than the teetotallers.

During the normal process of ageing, the death of brain cells leads to shrinkage of just 0.19 per cent per year.

Women, long-term drinkers and the elderly proved particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of alcohol.

The study, presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual conference, did not look in depth at how the damage varied over time.

Nor did it look at whether people were physically affected by the change, or whether effects on brain size were permanent.

Previous studies have shown that killing off brain cells with alcohol can lead to memory loss, confusion and problems with co-ordination.

Shrinking the brain increases the risk of epileptic fits, while heavy drinking can cause dementia.

However, in moderate amounts, alcohol can be good for health.

Studies have shown that it can cut the risk of heart disease and extend life expectancy, with red wine proving particularly beneficial.

[****]

heavy drinking can cause dementia.

yes. yes it can.

[NotKeith]

– and the more you drink, the smaller it gets.

Yes, yes it does.

[Fred O'Lisby]

Korsakoff's syndrome, here I come.

[Resident Asshole]

What the hell? At the beginning it says that 2 glasses of wine is bad, but at the end is says wine is good for you.

Also, their "scientific" method sucks.

[douger]

Well, the human brain is still a mysterious and poorly understood organ. As a fan of medical science, as far as I know the brain is an electro-chemical reactor of sorts. The last I heard it contains 1.4 million (and counting) chemicals and can light up a 15 watt light bulb.

And we are born with 4 to 5 billion brain cells and start losing them at birth. And it is true that we actually use maybe more than 10% of our brains during normal function. This is verified by some extreme brain maladies, such as hydrocephalus, where much of the inner portion of the brain can be rendered pretty much not useful.

And I had a classmate with said hydrocephalus in the sixties that was at the top of his class, in sciences, math, and literature. We all called him pineapple head. Because we all felt inferior to his blazing intellect.

Also known about the brain is the ability for it to replace damaged synapses with new neural pathways. The brain improvises with effective results.

All the more reason to disregard this study and remain a rationalized drunkard.

[l...]

Well, the human brain is still a mysterious and poorly understood organ. As a fan of medical science, as far as I know the brain is an electro-chemical reactor of sorts. The last I heard it contains 1.4 million (and counting) chemicals and can light up a 15 watt light bulb.

And we are born with 4 to 5 billion brain cells and start losing them at birth. And it is true that we actually use maybe more than 10% of our brains during normal function. This is verified by some extreme brain maladies, such as hydrocephalus, where much of the inner portion of the brain can be rendered pretty much not useful.

And I had a classmate with said hydrocephalus in the sixties that was at the top of his class, in sciences, math, and literature. We all called him pineapple head. Because we all felt inferior to his blazing intellect.

Also known about the brain is the ability for it to replace damaged synapses with new neural pathways. The brain improvises with effective results.

All the more reason to disregard this study and remain a rationalized drunkard.

you had me at PINEAPPLE HEAD.

[&]

beer?

brain?

wha?

[Fred O'Lisby]

Well, the human brain is still a mysterious and poorly understood organ. As a fan of medical science, as far as I know the brain is an electro-chemical reactor of sorts. The last I heard it contains 1.4 million (and counting) chemicals and can light up a 15 watt light bulb.

And we are born with 4 to 5 billion brain cells and start losing them at birth. And it is true that we actually use maybe more than 10% of our brains during normal function. This is verified by some extreme brain maladies, such as hydrocephalus, where much of the inner portion of the brain can be rendered pretty much not useful.

And I had a classmate with said hydrocephalus in the sixties that was at the top of his class, in sciences, math, and literature. We all called him pineapple head. Because we all felt inferior to his blazing intellect.

Also known about the brain is the ability for it to replace damaged synapses with new neural pathways. The brain improvises with effective results.

All the more reason to disregard this study and remain a rationalized drunkard.

It's not that poorly understood. I think the old 10% myth comes from the fact that only 10% of brain cells are neurons. The other 90% are glial cells that support neuronal funtioning. Alot of the grey matter loss we experience in early childhood and adolescence is the result on neuronal pruning, which is intentional and improves effeciency. Anyway, there is still alot that we don't know, but taking a clinical neuroscience class will make you appreciate how much we do know.

[lanternchikk]

Those eyes disturb me.

[lanternchikk]

but will it fall out of my head?

Yes, it eventually will.

[*****]

Korsakoff's syndrome, here I come.

Not if you eat enough p'ok.

[G_W]

Just don't plug your nose when you sneeze.

[Kegdrainer]

a whopping 1.6% more shrinkage?


im really worried now