Why Alcohol Is Good For You

http://articles.cnn.com/2008-10-14/health/healthmag.alcohol.brain.shrinkage_1_br...:HEALTH

What's good for the heart may hurt the brain, according to a new study of the effects of alcohol.

People who drink alcohol -- even the moderate amounts that help prevent heart disease -- have a smaller brain volume than those who do not, according to a study in the Archives of Neurology.

While a certain amount of brain shrinkage is normal with age, greater amounts in some parts of the brain have been linked to dementia.
"Decline in brain volume -- estimated at 2 percent per decade -- is a natural part of aging," says Carol Ann Paul, who conducted the study when she was at the Boston University School of Public Health. She had hoped to find that alcohol might protect against such brain shrinkage.

"However, we did not find the protective effect," says Paul, who is now an instructor in the neuroscience program at Wellesley College. "In fact, any level of alcohol consumption resulted in a decline in brain volume."

In the study, Paul and colleagues looked at 1,839 healthy people with an average age of about 61. The patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and reported how much they tippled.

Overall, the more alcohol consumed, the smaller the brain volume, with abstainers having a higher brain volume than former drinkers, light drinkers (one to seven drinks per week), moderate drinkers (eight to 14 drinks per week), and heavy drinkers (14 or more drinks per week).

Men were more likely to be heavy drinkers than women. But the link between brain volume and alcohol wasn't as strong in men. For men, only those who were heavy drinkers had a smaller brain volume than those who consumed little or no alcohol.

In women, even moderate drinkers had a smaller brain volume than abstainers or former drinkers.

It's not clear why even modest amounts of alcohol may shrink the brain, although alcohol is "known to dehydrate tissues, and constant dehydration can have negative effects on any sensitive tissue," says Paul.

"We always knew that alcohol at higher dosages results in shrinking of the brain and cognitive deficit," says Dr. Petros Levounis, M.D., director of the Addiction Institute of New York at St. Luke's -- Roosevelt Hospital Center, who was not involved in the study. "What is new with this article is that it shows brain shrinking at lower doses of alcohol." Health.com: Type 2 diabetes and alcohol: Proceed with caution

However, the study did not demonstrate that the smaller brain volume actually impaired memory or mental function, notes James Garbutt, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

And the differences between brain volumes in drinkers and nondrinkers were quite small -- less than 1.5 percent between abstainers and heavy drinkers.

"We're talking very small differences here," says Dr. Garbutt, who was not involved in the study. "We're not seeing 10 to 20 percent shrinkage."

However, he says, reduction in brain mass is an interesting finding. "But we have a long way to go to figure out the implications of it."

i think most do as black market beer doesnt exist.to get beer you must circumvent the well placed regulations of age restrictions but weed has no such hurdle.you got a guy, and you call him.
i think more people at any given time smoke rather than drink, and those under 21 create that

YES ! +^d

hmm... that level of misspelling leads me to the conclusion that your view of empirical methodology might be a tad underwhelming. But then again....scientists need not be linguists. Onward!

Cheers!

damn straight

Hey! That dude is cool. Wooooo, par-tay!

poor toilet...

Memories of Elvis . . .

Are you, then, suggesting that we...

...abstain from abstinence?

What's wrong with waking up naked in a public place?

Don't knock it till you've tried it :)

My man.

Naw. I exercise and eat right, so I can get hit by a bus.

Heh.. I said the same thing to my friend the other day.

Cool, goes with the territory. Our Universe is guilty of irony.

Personally ----I refuse to Tip-Toe through life----to arrive safely----at Deaths door.
A Glass of Wine sounds nice this evening actually. ☺

LOL!!

cheers mate!

did he die of cancer.....??

Of the toe.

Don't forget; because he refused to get it amputated because he wouldn't be able to dance on stage any more (or maybe just dance in general).

heh, seriously?

Well according to VH1 Legends program they did back awhile ago. I would speculate that the exact reasons he refused to get his toe amputated may be different than reported, but I feel confident that he did indeed know of the cancer and refused treatment for whatever reason.

Although the last I've heard about it was a few years ago, so that information may have been found to be invalid, inaccurate, or new evidence may have come to light.

The Legends program that VH1 had in the 90's to early 2000's really was the only point in watching that channel. If you can Netflix them I suggest it. Some of them were lame, but for the most part they were highly informative and pretty accurate. Kind of like mini documentaries.

I had a friend in Orlando who would swear on his life that Bob was assassinated.
Edit: I don't believe him, but it does sound plausible... I mean, how do you get cancer of the toe?!?

i love this man :D

It sounds like he was suffering from Diabetes.

Yeah. Have you heard about the one were the CIA gave him boots that injected the cancer into his toe. This stuff cracks me up.

he died because he did not want have his toe amputated so the cancer spread, he loved soccer that much

there were a few attempted assassinations....by the way the word assassin comes from the hashishans who were mercenaries that chiefed on hash

I normally don't correct spelling, but it's cheefed...

NO I haven't, that's great/truly horrible.

The slang used here is rooted in the Native American's smoke signals. "He was chiefin' that blunt, dude'' The spelling is correct. :)

thanks, lets discuss the etymology of that word. does it have anything to do with the spanish chiflar - to wistle?

it also means to be crazy about something

Doubt it, but I've been wrong before.

Fuck, I'm going to have to google it now.

urban dictionary is no use

Cool. That was the context we used it in, in High School.

If your talking about how anyone could believe it, I'm definitely with you.

My favorite story, is how he got shoot 22 times by an automatic rifle. Anyone who can accomplish that feat deserves some respect in my book.

I'm really trying to figure out how anyone even came up with that story... I didn't even want to start on who'd believe it. roflmao

On December 3 of 1976, an assassination attempt was made on Bob Marley, his wife and the managers of the Wailers to keep him from playing at the Smile Jamaica concert in Kingston. His concert was scheduled for December 5 after a presidential candidate’s election rally, a presidential candidate who happened to be at odds with the US. Some people believe that the assassination attempt was executed by the US government, for fear that Marley’s performance would sway the vote. Despite receiving two gun shot wounds, Bob Marley performed anyway and then left for the UK.

Something about this picture makes me smile, that dude's expression is priceless.

Science has proven that when men look at women’s Breasts their life span Increases!
Like the Rodney Carrington' song says " Show Them To Me !" I want to live a long time!
That guy in the pic could be thinking "why did I marry that woman I could be partying here!"

thats exactly true. our bodies have such a strong desire to defend them selves that if theres nothing to fight off it will start to pick on smaller things, like allergies. do you think cro-magnon man was allergic to grass?

umm noooo. Binge drinking is the most dangerous way to consume alcohol simply because you have no tolerance built up before you consume a ridiculous amount of it. Most of the people who die of alcohol poisoning are first time drinkers who drank too much on accident because they HAD NO TOLERANCE built up before they went on a binge and they didn't know their limits.
And a "little binge" is a contradiction of terms. If you want to build your tolerance (which I would suggest to anyone who consumes more than 2 alcoholic beverages at a time) is to drink a little bit of alcohol regularly.
I voted you down for giving out advice that might kill people.

I'm going to have to agree with AL on this one. You're out of line with the binge drinking comment.

If you removed the word "binge" from your comment though I might be inclined to agree. Even in spite of the fact that alcohol temporarily weakens you're immune system.

umm noooo shit. And I'm voting you down for pointing out a thing that anyone with common sense knows.

I'm going to half to agree with my colleagues that you and Al have no sense of humor.

You don't read much do you?

It's just a momentary lapse, nothing to get worked up over :P

hes only half agreeing

OK, let's say for the sake of argument that we have established that drinking alcohol is better for the drinker than abstaining (and we will -- for the moment -- simply ignore that the argument is absurd...there is a reason why there are more places one can attend an AA meeting in the world than places one can find a McDonald's restaurant).

The principal question that remains, at least in my mind, is how good is that drinking for the people AROUND the drinker? The people that are hit by the drinker's car, for example. The wife/husband and children of the drinker who may just be neglected or "knocked around a bit" or who may be savagely beaten or abused. And the list goes on and on...

I have nothing against those who drink responsibly...so long as none of us kids ourselves about the fact that alcohol has done more damage in the world than all of the other mind-altering substances combined.

Your principle question is a good one, but it seems to be a bit out of context. Alcohol is addictive, and readily available so it makes sense that there are a lot of treatment centers for alcoholics, but they might outnumber McDonalds because unlike MccyD's, their coffee is free (just a theory). The people who are hit by a drunk's car don't have lower life expectancies because they're all teetotalers, they just have bad luck. Maybe people who are victims of abusive alcoholics might have lower life expectancies and are also teetotalers for similar reasons, but there is no evidence to support that (as far as I know), it just makes sense.
I wasn't trying to say that alcoholism is a good idea, or that it isn't unhealthy. I was thinking it had more to do with lifestyle and stress levels because happiness HAS been linked with longevity.
Does the word "happiness" come to mind when you think "teetotaler"?
Of course it IS just a word and not at all an indicator of personality but most of the teetotalers I've met were at least a little "uptight" and get pretty defensive around that word so I'd guess their stress levels were a little high... I don't know, what do you think?

Oh, by the way, I LOVE how you opened with "OK, let's say for the sake of argument that we have established that drinking alcohol is better for the drinker than abstaining" then closed with "...so long as none of us kids ourselves about the fact that alcohol has done more damage in the world than all of the other mind-altering substances combined."
Way to contradict yourself counselor...

I see. So the gauntlets are off eh, chancellor? Allow me to take your last point first. I submitted, for the purposes of argument, that the drinker lives longer than the non-drinker. My last statement, that alcohol is extremely dangerous to the world at large, is in no way inconsistent with the first. Indeed, it summarizes the theme of my post: that while the drinker himself may live longer, the more proper analysis should include not only the drinker but those around the drinker and the consequent "collateral damage."

A good analogy would be smoking. I am sure you will agree, Ms...Almibry, is it? Interesting name. I would guess that with that name you come from a family of...rottweilers? No? Well, as good a guess as any. In any event, madam, you would no doubt agree that even in the highly unlikely event smoking was discovered to extend the life of the smoker, the evidence is irrefutable that the second-hand smoke from the smoker's lungs is so dangerous to those around the smoker that all manner of diseases can --and do--result.

I certainly did not mean to imply that you thought alcoholism was OK. Unfortunately, among those who drink regularly, a not-insignificant percentage will inevitably learn that they are alcoholics, a disease for which most experts agree there is no cure. One cannot, in my opinion, discuss life expectancy in a vacuum without also discussing quality-of-life. While admittedly opinions may differ, a person who gets an extra year or two as a lifelong alcoholic might well suggest that he or she would have preferred a slightly shorter, alcohol-free life.

Now, as to the notion that teetotalers were a little too tense and uptight, that is simply nonse- *SNAP!* oh shit, did I break that? ... Where was I? Oh yes. *clears throat* Indeed, even the much-maligned term "teetotaler" might sound infinitely preferable to the term "alcoholic" among those suffering from that dread disease. *clicks laser pointer on* In fact, as you can see in this first sli-- *A/C fires up blowing notes off the podium* DAMMIT! *trips over extension cord to overhead projector and bangs knees on floor* OW!...SHIT! *gathers notes, torn and completely out-of-order* OH, FOR CHRI-*looks up to see audience watching*...*smooths hair*...*straightens tie*

Um...would you mind if we finished this discussion over a cold one? My treat...

Your treat you say? IF you'll admit the "more proper analysis" bit was pure opinion...
And we're mutts thank you very much... Wait, were you calling me a bitch?!?

OK, I will admit it was pure opinion if you admit that the narrowness of this topic is likely to lead those not prone to deep thought to actually believe that drinking is good for them. Did you read the word "bitch" anywhere?

Yep, I can agree with that. My first comment was mostly me trying to be clever.

You asked if I had rottweilers in my family tree, implying I was a dog.
Female dog=bitch.
*sigh* before you get to it, yes, I was jumping to conclusions.
:P

It's OK, Al, I got the joke...just didn't want anybody else to actually think I would call a woman that. It WAS a joke, right, Al?... Al?

Must confess I was really enjoying the faux fighting.
Don't be that polite you two and disappoint your eager audience...

Asshole.

Bitch

Are you as turned on as I am?

God, I love you two!
(Next up, a revival of Nick and Nora...)

:D I'm getting there, call me a bad girl.