Does moderate alcohol consumption destroy brain cells?

[Mr Rayon]

I've been told by many wine manufacturers that consuming alcoholic drinks regularly from time-to-time can in fact be beneficial to one's health, providing some essential needed antioxidants to combat the effects of ageing. However, at the same time many health officials are warning consumers of the long term impact alcohol can have on one's life. I'm sure we've all been told at some stage in our lives that alcohol can in fact destroy brain cells and I'm wondering whether this destruction at the cellular level comes about through any consumption of alcohol (as arguably it's a poison) or whether brain cells are destroyed only when one goes on a binge drink. So, does moderate alcohol consumption destroy brain cells? Or is it just excessive consumption?

[Mr Skeptic]

Well, there's a correlation between moderate drinking and better health. There's a correlation between abstinence and poverty/previous alcohol problems. There's a correlation between poverty/previous alcohol problems and poor health. Not sure if anyone has checked that the first correlation is not do to the second two.

[pioneer]

One of the problems with correlation science is since it is not based on reason, interpretation can get irrational. The correlation may show the trend , but fails to address the individual.

 

As an example, we do a study of a neighborhood centered on eye color. The data says there is a correlation in that neighborhood for brown eyes, since this is the most data; 51%. That does not mean the blue eyed people also have brown eyes, unless one has lost touch with reality. This correlation says nothing of cause and effect for the individual. However, there is a tendency to assume one size fits all, as though empirical science can actually define individual cause and effect.

 

Some people can have a few drinks and do fine. Other can't. Correlation science can't tell who is who. However, the irrational try to impose a one size fits all, based on the correlation, even though this form of science is not advanced enough. It is like saying since the correlation says brown eyes, we will only sell make-up for brown eyed women. That is about as silly as the rest of the correlation extrapolations. But since this is irrational science, it tends to induce irrationality.

 

I tend to thnk that the free market plays into this. If we can sell all women brown eyed make-up, this will create a new problem with all the blue eyed ladies. This will create the need for new goods and service to address the new problems.

Edited November 2, 2010 by pioneer

[Moontanman]

Yes, moderate alcohol consumption actually makes you smarter by getting rid of the sick and weak brain cells and leaving the healthy strong ones to live.

[Genecks]

Yes, moderate alcohol consumption actually makes you smarter by getting rid of the sick and weak brain cells and leaving the healthy strong ones to live.

 

Whenever I'm very tired and been up for about 20+ hours, I'll drink some hard liquor. I often get a little more alert and awake. I often consider that what's happening is that the alcohol is killing off the brain cells that are active and making me tired. It also might be clearing up trash between synapses, too. Definitely much more research would need to be done.

 

In general, alcohol can destroy brain cells.