• Chronic alcohol drinking kills stem cells in key regions of the brain and reduces the development of new nerve cells in adults 
• For the first time, research showed that female brains showed more severe deficits than males
• Researchers said this discovery provides a new way of approaching the problem of alcohol-related changes in the brain

By Kayla Brantley For Dailymail.com  PUBLISHED: 14 November 2017

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BMJ 2017; 356 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j909 

(Published 22 March 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;356:j909

Conclusions

Collectively, our findings, from the most comprehensive study to date of the relation between alcohol consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease, indicate that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a lower risk of initially presenting with several, but not all, cardiovascular diseases. Similarly, we show that heavy drinking is differentially associated with a range of such diseases. This has implications for patient counselling, public health communication, and disease prediction algorithms and suggests the necessity for a more nuanced approach to the role of alcohol consumption in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

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Key findings 

• Change in alcohol consumption per capita was significantly and positively associated with change in both male and female head and neck cancer mortality, particularly among males and females aged 50 and above. 
• Change in alcohol consumption per capita was significantly and positively associated with change in male liver cancer mortality, particularly among males aged 50-69. 
• The results suggest that one litre decreases in annual alcohol consumption per capita were associated with reductions of 11.6 per cent in male and 7.3 per cent in female head and neck cancer mortality across a 20-year period. 
• The results also suggest that one litre decreases in annual alcohol consumption per capita were associated with a reduction of male liver cancer mortality of 15.0 per cent across a 20-year period. 
• In total, it is estimated from the analysis that about 6.5 per cent of male and 4.1 per cent of female head and neck cancer deaths were related to alcohol consumption in Australia between 1968 and 2011.
• Alcohol consumption was estimated to be responsible for 8.4 per cent of male liver cancer deaths in Australia in the last 50 years

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It takes more than 25 litres of water to produce one litre of beer. So, the global alcohol industry, production, distribution, retail leave a huge climate footprint…The alcohol industry perpetuates myths about its economic contribution to countries as well as myths about the effects of alcohol and alcohol policies. The costs for alcohol harm are much greater than the economic contribution of the alcohol industry. And the conduct of the industry, targeting children and young people with their marketing and targeting developing countries with heavy lobbying is highly problematic, knowing alcohol plays a role in creating poverty and hindering development…To free people around the world from poverty, and to achieve the MDGs it is fundamental to address the role alcohol plays in creating and exacerbating poverty and hindering development. The equation is simple and tells decision-makers what to do: Less alcohol, means less poverty and more sustainable development.”

Pubudu Sumanasekara  

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Published 15 September 2017  By Tim Newman

Researchers uncover changes in brain activity associated with binge drinking. Earlier studies showed that alcoholic people have measurable changes in their resting brain activity. And now, for the first time, researchers find similar changes in the brains of non-alcoholic students who binge drink.

Non-bingers' and bingers' brains compared

When the neural activity of the two groups was compared, there were significant differences. More specifically, there was a measurable increase in beta and theta oscillations in the right temporal lobe - particularly the parahippocampal and fusiform gyri - and the occipital cortex.

The parahippocampal gyrus is believed to play a part in coding and retrieving memories. The fusiform gyrus does not have a well-defined role to date but seems to be involved in recognition. The occipital cortex deals with processing visual information.

Interestingly, the increased activity in these areas mirrors those found in the brains of chronic alcoholics.

The researchers believe that the alterations in brain activity might be early signs of alcohol-induced brain damage. Changes in these regions may indicate a reduction in their ability to respond to external stimuli, which may hamper information processing.

Younger brains are still developing, and the researchers believe that this might make them more vulnerable to alcohol damage.

"These features might be down to the particularly harmful effects of alcohol on young brains that are still in development, perhaps by delaying neuromaturational processes." Eduardo López-Caneda

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