Brain damage linked to long-term alcohol abuse

A recent article from U.S. News & World Report describes a new study, to be published in the December 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, that shows chronic drinking leads to reduced cortical thickness in the brain, and the more alcohol one consumes, the greater the long-term damage.

The study compared brain scans from 31 former drinkers with those of 34 non-drinkers. This is the first study to precisely measure variations in the thickness of the cerebral cortex, the thin layer of neurons on the surface of the brain that support all higher-level human cognition. The study shows that the greatest impact of alcohol is on the frontal and temporal lobes, the parts of the brain that experts say are critical to learning new information, maintaining self-regulation, controlling impulses, and modifying all complex human behaviors.

In short, the very parts of the brain that may be most important for controlling problem drinking are actually impaired by alcohol, and the more alcohol consumed, the greater the potential for damage.