Moderate alcohol intake over a lifetime may be linked to a marked elevation of blood pressure
A recent study found that men who averaged three drinks a day had more than twice the risk of hypertension as those who drank little or no alcohol. Previous observational studies have generally found contradictory results however, but those studies had limited ability to control for diet, smoking, exercise, income, and reporting bias. Ffurther large-scale studies are needed to confirm the findings. PLoS Med March 2008
Bladder rupture can occur with binge drinking
Bladder injury can occur during drinking because alcohol increases bladder volume while dulling the urge to void. A fall or other minor trauma that further increases pressure on the bladder can then result in a rupture. Three case studies describe patients who present with lower abdominal pain. Two had vague pain while one had sudden onset of suprapubic pain. The symptoms of bladder rupture can be vague and difficult to diagnose without surgical exploration, yet early recognition of this condition is crucial as it does have considerable implications on recovery and even survival.
British Medical Journal, November 2007
Heavy drinking in 20 year olds can cause brain changes seen on MRI consistent with early signs of alcohol-related dementia
This was a study of ten men, aged 21 to 25 who admitted to consuming 25 or more alcoholic beverages a week. Ten other age-matched controls who did not drink were also included. Researchers found differences on PET scans in certain areas of the brains in the drinkers which were similar to those seen in older drinkers who had developed alcohol-related dementia. The younger drinkers had not yet developed any detectable changes on neuropsychiatric testing even though there were early signs of damage on PET scans of their brains.
According to the researchers, PET scans appear to be a highly sensitive technique for detecting early functional changes in the brain due to alcohol abuse. American Psychological Association Convention Program 2007
Young alcohol abusers show smaller brain areas
Duke researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure prefrontal cortex, thalamic, and cerebellar volumes in 14 young participants with alcohol-use disorders and in 28 matched controls. Young problem drinkers were found to have significantly smaller prefrontal cortexes, an area of the brain associated with complex thinking, planning, inhibition, and emotional regulation, than their healthy matched controls. The size of the prefrontal cortex strongly correlated with the average number of drinks an individual consumed per drinking episode. This study does not determine whether differing brain morphology is a consequence of, or may indicate a predisposition to, alcohol abuse. However, with nearly one in three high school seniors binge drinking at least once per month, it is a preliminary study that will help to understand precisely how drinking affects the brain of these young people. Dr. De Bellis et al, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, Sept 2005 Reported in MedPageToday, Sept 2005
More than 30 percent of U.S. adults have abused alcohol
In a recent government study, researchers found that more than 30 percent of American adults have either abused alcohol or suffered from alcoholism at some point in their lives. Few alcoholics received treatment, and those who did receive treatment didn't undergo therapy until they were approximately 30 years old, which was eight years after they developed a dependence on drinking. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism July 2007
Doubts raised about health benefits of moderate drinking Fifty-four studies were recently analyzed by an international team of researchers who concluded that the proposed cardiovascular health benefits of light to moderate drinking may be based on nothing but a common methodological error.
Of 54 studies reviewed, 47 included a category of individuals who had only recently cut down from drinking or completely abstained. The researchers believe that including this category may have created a statistical error because many older people abstain from or cut down on drinking due to poor health, such as disability, frailty, or medication use. In other words, regular light drinking may be a marker for good health among middle aged and older people, not a cause of it.
In fact, when the researchers analyzed the results of only the seven studies that did not include this abstainer category, they found no significant protective effect against all-cause mortality associated with light or moderate alcohol use.
In yet another analysis of 35 studies that examined mortality from coronary heart disease, the significant results favoring alcohol consumption again disappeared when only the two studies not considering the abstainer category were considered. University of California March 2006
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