[lbo-talk] Drinking causes brain shrinkage over long term

Sean Andrews cultstud76 at gmail.com
Wed Oct 15 06:35:42 PDT 2008


On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 6:49 AM, B. <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Among those who drank the most, more than 14 drinks a week, the brain was one per cent smaller on average, compared with abstainers, the researchers found, after correcting for head size, age, sex, education, height, body mass index and stroke risk.
>
> "In contrast to studies on cardiovascular disease, this study found that moderate alcohol consumption was not protective against normal age-related differences in total brain volume," the study concluded.
>
> "Rather, the more alcohol consumed, the smaller the total brain volume."

So the study wasn't long term and can't say that the drinking of alcohol caused the brain shrinkage, just that they seem to be correlated when compared to averages.

In that case, couldn't it be that, the smaller a person's brain, the more they drink?

The Hitchens point would still apply.

s



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