Alcohol Causes Brain Damage, Especially for Women
One more scientific evidence about the loss of drinking alcohol, especially for women.
Swedish scientists have found that high consumption of alcohol can damage the serotonin
system. The effect was greater in the brain known to women than men.
Significant decrease in the serotonin system function in the female brain can be seen after
only four years of drinking alcoholic beverages. Meanwhile, a similar effect takes 12
years in men. Serotonin is a hormone that regulates functions such as impulse control and
mood.
The research group at the Department of Psychology and the Sahlgrenska Academy at
Gothenburg University, Sweden, for the first time has studied three of the major
neurotransmitters in the brain substance in a single individual. They have studied a group
of women and men with alcohol dependence.
"We have been using neuroendocrine techniques to show that in principle the
serotonergic system in the brain can experience serious disruption due to alcohol. This is
a system that regulates impulse control and mood," said Kristina Berglund, one of the
scientists.
Both men and women will actually experience side effects from alcohol, but this effect
appears much more rapidly in women. These findings will be published in January 2012
in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. (Pri/X-13)