Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Alcohol doesn't kill brain cells

NEW research, to be revealed at a conference of some of the world's top neuroscientists in Cairns today, has found alcohol does not kill off brain cells as always thought.

For years imbibers have been told a big night on the drink wipes out entire sections of human brain cell function with much the same destructive equivalent as a napalm bombing strike.

According to Queensland Brain Institute director Professor Perry Bartlett, this is not true.

There is no evidence drinking alcohol leads directly to the death of brain cells, he said.

"Some of the best studies, done in Italy, show a bottle of wine a night can reduce the risk of dementia in old age," Professor Bartlett said.

In moderation, alcohol has positive benefits for blood vessel health and stroke prevention. And, as an added bonus, new brain cells are generated every day of our lives.

Research by Professor Bartlett and his team has found we all have an inbuilt repair kit replenishing the more than 100 billion cells - or neurons - in our brain. (Source)
Yay and here's to a bottle of wine a night to beat dementia!

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alcoholic acts eventually make me slide into mini depressions which I don't experience since I have been 10 years sober. The anti oxidents and free radical reducers can be found in non alcoholic sources such as dark chocalate and green tea. If u r drinking a bottle a nite, that means you will want to indulge yourself not your kids, choose your supply over your friends and jeopordize your next day activities w/ the hangover. U also risk resorting to the cushioning of alcholol w/ every crisis. Moreover, so, was the study funded by the wine industry or done by alcoholics? What about irrefutable liver damage? If I could retrace time, I would gladly toss the most famous bottle of Bourdeaux to redo just one minute of time lost w/ my kids when they were young.