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Dear
Dr. Bill:
I'm a 19 year old carpenter. I still live with my folks.
Most days, after I finish work, I stop by a local bar to socialize
with friends over a couple of beers before going home. My
mom's brother is a severe alcoholic. I don't fit the picture
of being a problem drinker, no compulsive drinking, etc.,
but she thinks that what I do drink can cause brain damage.
I think she's just a worry wart because of her brothers problem.
Help me out on this. A.G.- Dumont.
Dear
A.G.,
According to "Alcohol Alert," a publication
of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
"Even mild-to-moderate drinking can adversely affect
cognitive functioning (i.e., mental activities that involve
acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using information)".
Some investigators have proposed that cognitive performance
worsens in direct proportion to the severity and duration
of alcoholism. Studies suggest that social drinkers who consume
more than 21 drinks per week fit into this category. Others
state that deficits may be detectable only in those alcoholics
who have been drinking regularly for 10 years or more.. Long-term,
light-to-moderate social drinkers have been found to fall
into this category as well, showing cognitive deficits equivalent
to those found in detoxified alcoholics. Although further
research is needed to determine how a person's pattern of
drinking is related to cognitive impairment, some deficits
are possible even in people who are not heavy drinkers.
Concerning
your uncle, the link between duration and lifetime quantity
of drinking and the development of cognitive problems is unclear.
Some studies have shown that cognitive performance worsens
in direct proportion to the severity and duration of alcoholism;
others suggest that social drinkers who consume more than
21 drinks per week also fit into this category; still others
suggest that deficits may be detectable only in those alcoholics
who have been drinking regularly for 10 years or more. Long-term,
light-to-moderate social drinkers also have been found to
fall into this category, showing deficits equivalent to those
found in detoxified alcoholics.
Structural
and functional brain abnormalities can be measured by noninvasive
imaging techniques that provide a picture of the living brain,allowing
investigators to "see" how the brain operates. They
now know that the brain is capable of "rewiring"
itself; allowing it to regain some of the cognitive abilities
previously diminished as a result of damage from alcohol or
other diseases. This ability to recover is important for at
least two reasons. First, alcohol use over a period of time,
even at low levels of drinking, can produce varying degrees
of cognitive damage; of particular concern because alcohol
use is so widespread. This self-repairing ability may help
defer or reduce alcohol-induced cognitive problems among a
large portion of the population. Second, this ability to rewire
itself may have implications in terms of adolescent drinking.
Recent evidence suggests that the adolescent brain, which
is still forming important cellular connections, is more vulnerable
than the adult brain to alcohol-induced damage; particularly
troubling, as chronic binge drinking is all too common among
young people. The brain's ability to rewire important neurological
systems might help mitigate a lifetime of cognitive difficulties
resulting from chronic drinking during one's early years,
but it is not yet known if this is true.
Maybe
your mom has reason to worry, AG, the ball is in your court.
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