Study: Heavy social drinkers show brain damage

A possible explanation for last night's press conference?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/04/14/social.drinkers.reut/index.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Heavy social drinkers show the same pattern of brain damage as hospitalized alcoholics -- enough to impair day-to-day functioning, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

Brain scans show clear damage, and tests of reading, balance and other function show people who drink more than 100 drinks a month have some problems, the researchers said.

"Socially functioning heavy drinkers often do not recognize that their level of drinking constitutes a problem that warrants treatment," the researchers, at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and the University of California San Francisco, wrote in their report.

I can count on the humor of DU to make me luagh as much as I can count on a right winger to say something so stupid that it will make me laugh too.
I quit drinking 3 years ago..me feel smarter!

menopause

It was this guy...



Ralph Klein, premier of Alberta, aka the Oilpatch Rumpot. The resemblance between these two is more than physical, needless to say.

So, will everyone mourn the death of my brain?

Nope, it is still working too well for anyone to mourn the death of this brain possessed by Just Me.

ROFLMFAO!

There must be tons of them in government.

I don't know if that's BS or not but I know from experience that drinking is harmful to your brain. We pros know how we were.

it only kills the WEAK ones!! :silly:

on edit: That'll teach me to read all the replies before I use my impaired brain to reply!

After maybe a thousand studies say alcohol kills brain cells, the government decides to spend money on another study?

Just look at George W. Bush.

:-)

for example, they don't seem to agree with the long-held, and well-supported buffalo theory that suggests that alcohol consumption increases brain functions:


A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first.


This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular attrition of the weakest members.

In much the same way the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells.

Excessive intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.



In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers!

http://www.think.cz/barspubs/Why%20do%20we%20drink%20alcohol.html

:beer:

I saw this article and was going to post it. A couple of years ago, Bush fainted due to a pretzel and low blood pressure during the 2002 Superbowl. Does anyone really think that it a pretzel that was responsible for Bush passing out or was he off the wagon and drinking?

Wait-- what am I drinking to? Ah crap,

Wait-- what am I drinking to? Ahh, crap! :beer:

for 12 years now.
In the last years of my drinking I drank about 4 times a year, binges, but each time I ended up in hospital.

Cost me jobs, marriages etc.

The point is that I actually probably *consumed* less in one year than the Average social drinker.

It's not the quantity - it what it does to you.

Still got lotsa brain cells left :)

Mike

How about that? Next thing they will tell us eating Freedom
Fries can cause you to gain weight.

key word being "could" affect you...

but if one drinks everyday, then 100 drinks would = 3 per day

Fish in a barrel and all that.

Dang. It's not even fun to mock him anymore.

A little humor break from Cliff Clavin

I present the Buffalo Theory:

"Well ya see Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move
as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is these slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This
natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general
speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular
killing of the weakest members."

"In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the
slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we all know,
kills brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest
brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

He only has a 3.5 while his non-partying twin sister has a 4.0. Of course, I've tried to explain to him that any info studied under the influence of a drug is best remembered under the influence of the same drug, so don't mix your drugs and feel good while testing.

Although, I can not imagine that he is consuming anywhere near 100 drinks per month - to me that sounds more closely alcoholic than social.

is much different than 100 gin and tonics.

Different alcohol levels.

beer is lower alcohol (proof) by ounce of fluid, but 1 beer equals 1 shot almost exactly in total content

made by a person in their kitchen only has a shot of liquor. Perhaps at the bar it does, but I don't know anyone who makes a bar drink at home. The majority of liquor drinkers put more than a shot in their personally made drinks.

You are correct that 12 oz of beer = 5 oz of wine = 1.5 oz of liquor. But these are restaurant serving sizes. At home, most people have a large glass of wine, or a double shot of liquor in their drinks or a beer. My point is that it is misleading to say that 100 instances of beer, wine or cocktails is the same when it is the amount of alcohol in the drink that is of concern. One can not change the amount of alcohol in a regular beer, but one can inadvertently have a massive red wine glass of wine or a double shot of liquor and feel that they are within the 100 instances per month rule. I think that to be responsible, the article (or researchers) needs to indicate how much alcohol per month instead of instances of alcoholic drinks.

From the article:

"The enrollment criterion for heavy drinkers was the consumption of more than an average of 100 alcoholic drinks per month for men over 3 years before the study (80 drinks for women)," they wrote in the report, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

One drink is usually defined as a serving of spirits, a glass of wine or a can or bottle of beer."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/04/14/social.drinkers.reut/index.html

I imagine further definition of the standards is in the journal article, which anyone is free to look up themselves.

The bottom line is that yes, there may be people who mix their drinks at home, or have supersized drinks in bars, or consider a glass of wine to be a WATER glass full, etc. that think that by only having 50 of these a month means that they're in the clear in terms of having a drinking problem - THEY AREN'T.

As the friend, sister, daughter and granddaughter of alcoholics, I can tell ya, "denial" ain't just a river in Egypt.

Here's a good site for overall good info on substance abuse:

http://www.habitsmart.com/

And ladies, remember that as far as we know, any consumption of alcohol increases your risk of breast cancer and there is NO SAFE amount of alcohol that can be consumed during pregnancy ESPECIALLY early pregnancy. If you drink regularly, and you're in your fertile years, I hope you use very effective birth control.

I dont have a drinking problem..I have a Sobriety Problem LOL.

"I feel sorry for People who don't drink Because when they wake up thats
the best they are gonna feel all day" Frank Sinatra

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" Ben Franklin

"Beer the cause and solution to all our problems" Homer simpson

Tell me why the brain damage of alcolhol to his brain is NOT a National Security issue and NOT pertinent voter information? Why aren't candidates run through psychological testing? Why don't they have to take drug tests and occasional lie detector tests, since their in positions of National Security are higher than 'bus driver', 'Lockheed Martin employees', 'minor FBI/CIA agents'...

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/04/16/2003136881

Set 'em up, Joe! :beer:

Wats the bigg deel?

in the land, for that might scary.

Bush and his friends are brain-dammaged.

Poison. Far more damaging than either tobacco or pot.

Exhibit A is in the White House.

A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. !

That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

my motto is: there's pork chop in every beer.