Associations between alcohol consumption and gray and white matter volumes

The overall conclusion of the study is &quot;We observe negative relationships between alcohol intake and global gray and white matter measures&quot;. But if you look at Figure 3, it is consistent with a J-shaped risk curve with risk equal to nondrinkers around 16 grams ethanol per day, like the 16.9 number found for 40-64 year old males in <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thelancet.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;lancet&#x2F;article&#x2F;PIIS0140-6736(22)00847-9&#x2F;fulltext#seccestitle140" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thelancet.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;lancet&#x2F;article&#x2F;PIIS0140-6...</a>. So I would say this study adds another reason to not overdrink, and confirms that current drinking expectations are too high, but isn&#x27;t a reason to abstain entirely.

Personally I&#x27;m far more more interested in questions about how correlated brain matter volumes are with real world outcomes and overall quality of life.<p>I&#x27;m vaguely familiar with the term &quot;synaptic plasticity&quot; to roughly mean the way the brain processes information and how it changes over time with varying life experiences.<p>It seems to me that one&#x27;s risk-taking behavior may reduce brain matter volume, yet still improve quality of life because experience itself (literally the way the brain is wired) is worth far more. Some experiences are practically impossible without alcohol due to its social and cultural significance.<p>To make a dumb metaphor, consider the fact that the raw number of pixels contained in an image isn&#x27;t necessarily correlated with its success. What is a life, but a meme?<p>Disclosure: I&#x27;m buzzed right now btw :p

I decided as a 14 year old to never drink. It’s been an interesting experiment in particular regarding peer pressure, group dynamics and societal norms.

As in general with associative studies, it is hard to make a distinct conclusion on causation.<p>Do we know if alcohol <i>decreases</i> gray and white matter volumes? Could the causation run in the reverse direction? Bi-directionally? Or could there be some common cause (e.g., proneness to &quot;risky&quot; behavior) that leads to both?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Correlation_does_not_imply_causation#Examples_of_illogically_inferring_causation_from_correlation" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Correlation_does_not_imply_cau...</a>

This seems to have been known for decades with respect to heavy users, now it&#x27;s being found it lighter users. For background:<p>&gt; &quot;Partial recovery of brain function with abstinence suggests that a proportion of the deÆcits must be neurochemical in origin while neuronal loss from selected brain regions indicates permanent and irreversible damage. The factors influencing these two components are unknown...&quot;<p>Kril, J. J., &amp; Halliday, G. M. (1999). Brain shrinkage in alcoholics: a decade on and what have we learned? Progress in Neurobiology, 58(4), 381–387.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sci-hub.se&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;s0301-0082(98)00091-4" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sci-hub.se&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;s0301-0082(98)00091-4</a><p>Here&#x27;s something on mechanisms from 2021:<p>&gt; &quot;Various mechanisms underlie ethanol-induced cell death, with oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress being the main pro-apoptotic mechanisms in alcohol abuse and FASD. Oxidative and ER stresses are induced by thiamine deficiency, especially in alcohol abuse, and are exacerbated by neuroinflammation, particularly in fetal ethanol exposure.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mdpi.com&#x2F;1660-4601&#x2F;18&#x2F;16&#x2F;8678" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mdpi.com&#x2F;1660-4601&#x2F;18&#x2F;16&#x2F;8678</a><p>Yes, psychedelics and cannabis are safer recreational drugs than alcohol is, and maybe opiates and cocaine are not really any worse. Revising drug laws to account for such realities is long overdue - although banning marketing and promoting public health campaigns on risks and side effects are also good ideas.

&gt; Here, we show that the negative associations between alcohol intake and brain macrostructure and microstructure are already apparent in individuals consuming an average of only one to two DAUs (daily alcohol units), and become stronger as alcohol intake increases.<p>It should be noted that a single &#x27;weak&#x27; 5% beer is 1.65 DAUs.

Does anyone know the same-person variance in gray and white matter volume, and if it has any measurable dependence on other biological factors (hydration and&#x2F;or electrolyte balance come to mind as plausible)? And if any temporary[0] same-person effects are directly attributable to alcohol and its short term effects, e.g. hangover?[1]<p>[0]I presume if permanent single-person shrinkage was observed it would have been a big enough headline to have been noticed. [1]Unless accounted for in sampling, drinkers would be statistically more likely to be experiencing transiently smaller brains from alcohol consumption or accompanying dehydration - if an effect exists.

I gave up alcohol years ago after reading a few of these studies. I wasn&#x27;t drinking often anyways, but does it ever feel good to never feel that morning after headache. I found even one pint in the evening could disrupt my sleep.<p>Saving on the restaurant, and eliminating the liquor store, bills was gravy.

Alcohol clearly lowers brain matter volumes I don&#x27;t understand how any of you scientifically educated chaps can look at the figures and determine otherwise. It says literally &quot;negative in every dimension&quot; and that is not an exaggeration. Now, if you think alcohol is the only and best substance escape available, then maybe there is an internal rage against the sentiment. But alcohol is very low-tech and I encourage you all to explore the alternatives.

Why are they performing this study in the UK instead of comparing the (self-reported) drinking population from the UK against a known, never to have consumed population, from a Muslim country? That would control for previous drinkers and underreporting the habit.

They may have gotten it backwards - more gray and white matter volumes could make the person more aware of the hopelessness of life in general and, therefore, induce alcohol consumption. ;-)

&gt; <i>Notably, the negative associations we observe with global IDPs are detectable in individuals who consume between 1 and 2 alcohol units daily. Thus, in the UK, consuming just one alcoholic drink daily (or two units of alcohol) could be associated with changes in GMV and WMV in the brain.</i><p>Did anyone find anything on lower levels of consumption? I&#x27;ve had a hard time finding evidence related to any potential harm from having 2 drinks&#x2F;mo, for example. I could imagine this would be very different than 30 drinks&#x2F;mo.

About a year ago I started drinking a glass of wine every night because of a self experiment I did suggesting it was good for my sleep (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ja3k.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;wine" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ja3k.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;wine</a>). The title concerned me but if you look at the graphs there&#x27;s basically no difference between 0 and 1 for either gray or white matter.

Is there something similar studied for cannabis?

Hmm.. maybe better to avoid alcohol completely, or stick to other less harmful recreational drugs and pastimes?

More worthless associations...

alcohol bad, yo.

Logical positivist vs Knight of faith, Berserker approach to life