Did Your Ancestors Give You Alcoholism? Genetics and Other Affects of Alcohol on the Brain
Written by Brett Brostrom, Posted on , in Section Stress Relief
Scientists have studied alcoholism and addiction for a long time. Recently, scientists put the spotlight on our ancestors addictions effects on our own brains, and the effects of alcohol on a chemical that the brain produces called NAA (N-Acetylaspartic acid). The findings from this study are interesting to say the least.
Scientists gathered a group of 46 chronic heavy drinkers and 52 light drinkers and studied the effects of alcohol on their brains using MRI scans and measurements of common brain metabolites. Long-term alcohol consumption is normally associated with structural and metabolic brain damage, and the degree of brain function largely depends on the amount of alcohol consumed. The heavy drinkers lagged far behind in comparison to the light drinkers in brain function in areas such as memory, processing speed, attention, executive function, and balance.
The Heavy Drinkers
All heavy drinkers were not seeking treatment at the time of the study, although they did meet the criteria for alcohol dependence (41 of 46 heavy drinkers) or abuse (5 or 46 heavy drinkers). Although none of the heavy drinkers were in a formal alcoholism treatment at the time of enrollment, an estimated 75% were in motivational conflict about changing their behavior. Heavy drinkers in this study were relatively young, highly educated, and of relatively high socioeconomic status. These drinkers consumed on average of 200 standard alcoholic drinks per month over the last 1-3 years before the study had taken place, and had a lifetime average alcohol consumption of 169 monthly drinks over 24 years of drinking. The age most heavy drinkers reported to start drinking was 17 years old (plus or minus a year or two), with only 9 of 46 heavy drinkers reported to have started drinking at the age of 21 or later. Heavy drinkers show that NAA levels in the brain is 5% lower in all heavy drinkers versus all light drinkers.
Family History Alcoholism
Drinking severity tended to be relatively similar between heavy drinkers who experienced family history alcoholism and those who did not. Family History Heavy Drinkers were also, on average, older in age than those who were not Family History Affected, with the average ages being 28 years old for Family History Positive versus 18 years old for Family History Negative Drinkers. One interesting statistic shows that brain stem activity is higher for those who were family history negative drinkers versus those who were family history positive.
The Effects of Binge Drinking
Binge drinkers (15 of 46 heavy drinkers) drank on average only 15 days of the month (versus 27 days of the month for continual drinkers). However, on those 15 days, they tended to drink 10 alcoholic drinks versus 8 drinks per day for continual drinkers. Binge drinkers usually consume less drinks overall per month, (44 drinks for binge drinkers vs. 239 for continual drinkers. Binge drinking did not affect metabolites in any significant way in this study.
The Conclusions
Some of the major findings of this study are this: (1) There is lower level of NAA in heavy drinkers versus light drinkers. (2) The study also shows that a positive family history alcoholism does not predispose a negative effect on the brain, in fact the study shows that most family history alcoholics seem to protect the brain against damage from alcohol. While this seems to be positive, there is also a negative side to Family History Positive Alcoholics. Genetics play an important role for the risk of alcoholism. Studies have shown that Family History Positive Alcoholics are at a much higher risk for early development versus those who don’t have alcoholism in their family trees. (3) Binge Drinking leads to degeneration in several different parts of the brain as well as withdrawals, and can ultimately affect spatial learning. Heavy binge drinking can potentially be more damaging to the brain than continual heavy alcohol consumption. Eighty-nine percent of the chronic heavy drinkers met the criteria for alcohol dependence, and 88% of those were physiologically dependent. Comparatively, the typical treatment sample is almost exclusively physiologically dependent on alcohol. That dependence contributes to greater metabolite damage more than alcohol abuse by heavy drinkers was confirmed when the heavy drinkers were removed from the study.
After all of this, the results cumulatively shows that relatively young, non-treatment seeking heavy drinkers have measurable brain abnormalities. Family History Alcoholism are at a higher risk for development of alcoholism versus those whose families don’t share that trait.
