Does Drinking Alcohol Kill Brain Cells?

The idea that drinking of alcohol kills brain cells has long been promoted. Last nights debate on this topic made me curious to know the truth. Occassionally, I like to drink an 8 oz. glass of wine or sometimes add baileys to my milkshake, just to satisfy my taste buds. Am I killing my brain cells with such a less amount of alcohol?

Scientific medical research has actually demonstrated that the moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with better cognitive (thinking and reasoning) skills and memory than is abstaining from alcohol. Various studies around the world report that moderate drinking doesn’t kill brain cells but helps the brain function better into old age.

Of course, years of alcohol abuse can cause serious neurological damage, including Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Harm can be done to message-carrying dendrites on neurons in the cerebellum, a part of the brain involved in learning and physical coordination. But even in such extreme cases, there’s a lack of evidence that alcohol kills brain cells.

However, new research involving rats have proved that abstinence after chronic alcohol abuse enables brains to repair themselves. In this research it was observed that during simulated alcohol “binges,” rats’ ability to create new brain cells was reduced. But after the animals no longer consumed alcohol they had a “huge burst” in new brain cell development. The study is the first to demonstrate that brain cell production can return after abstinence from alcohol abuse.