If a person drinks more than two pegs a day of alcohol (women more than one and half) for 15 years or more can suffer from permanent damage of the brain, says Dr. D.P. Agarwal of the Institute of Human Genetics at Hamburg. “As very few people have control over their intake of liquor, I would advise them not take alcohol at all,” he adds.
Alcohol’s intake for a long time affects the brain structure in various ways. The size of the brain shrinks. It affects certain parts like the cerebellum leading to short-term memory loss, amnesia, lowering of cognitive functions, blackouts, attention deficits, confusion, eye movement abnormalities and poor muscular co-ordination.
High consumption also leads to death of cells in the brain as well as other parts, Dr. Agarwal says. “What was thought to be good for heart may be bad for brain,” he says. Speaking on a debate on the effects of alcohol consumption on the central nervous system here, Dr. Agarwal told the news paper that there is very little knowledge of the effect of alcohol abuse on the brain and central nervous system, everyone talks of its effects on liver but no one talks of the brain.
Pregnant women should avoid alcohol because it exposes the unborn child to alcohol, placing the child at risk for a wide range of alcohol-related birth defects, he said. Alcohol exposure can lead to the child having smaller than expected brain size and a smaller head, reduction in size of the cerebellum, skull and brain malformations, leading to the child being mentally retarded or having behavioral abnormality.