Too many college students and even teenagers at home engage in binge drinking and may be permanently impairing their brains, reports a new review article published in the journal Cortex, published by Elsevier. The research highlights growing evidence for the lasting impact of alcohol on the brain. The outcome could change the type of future careers they can handle after graduation or even later, in middle age.
Also, binge drinking induces insulin resistance. Someone who regularly binge drinks even once a week, over many years, may remain in an insulin resistant state for an extended period of time, potentially years, another recent study revealed. Excessive alcohol use accounts for four percent of the global burden of disease, and binge drinking particularly is becoming an increasing health issue. A new review article published in the journal Cortex highlights the significant changes in brain function and structure that can be caused by alcohol misuse in young people.
A new review article published Cortex highlights the significant changes in brain function and structure that can be caused by alcohol misuse in young people. Functional signs of brain damage from alcohol misuse in young people mainly include deficits in visual learning and memory as well as executive functions.
Check out the article, "Pathways to Alcohol-Induced Brain Impairment in Young People: A Review" by Daniel F. Hermens, Jim Lagopoulos, Juliette Tobias-Webb, Tamara De Regt, Glenys Dore, Lisa Juckes, Noeline Latt and Ian B. Hickie. It and appears in the journal Cortex Volume 49, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 3, published by Elsevier.
These functions are controlled by the hippocampus and frontal structures of the brain, which are not fully mature until around 25 years of age. Structural signs of alcohol misuse in young people include shrinking of the brain and significant changes to white matter tracts. Also see the January 30, 2013 news release, "Excessive alcohol use when you're young could have lasting impacts on your brain."
Age of first use may be considered to trigger alcohol misuse
According to the researchers however, changing the legal drinking age is not the answer. In Australia the legal drinking age is 18, three years earlier than in the US. Despite the difference in legal drinking age, the age of first use (and associated problems) is the same between the two countries.
Instead, the authors emphasized the need for early intervention, by identifying markers and thresholds of risky drinking behavior at an early stage, while individuals are in vulnerable stages of brain development. Another study published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine revealed that binge drinking causes insulin resistance, which increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to the results of an animal study led by researchers at the Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The authors further discovered that alcohol disrupts insulin-receptor signaling by causing inflammation in the hypothalamus area of the brain. Also check out the January 30, 2013 news release, "Binge drinking increases risk of Type 2 diabetes by causing insulin resistance."
Binge drinking causes insulin resistance, report researchers in new study
Binge drinking causes insulin resistance, which increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to the results of an animal study led by researchers at the Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The authors further discovered that alcohol disrupts insulin-receptor signaling by causing inflammation in the hypothalamus area of the brain.
The results are published in the January 30 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine. "Insulin resistance has emerged as a key metabolic defect leading to Type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD)," said Christoph Buettner, MD, PhD, according to the January 30, 2013 news release, "Binge drinking increases risk of Type 2 diabetes by causing insulin resistance."
Dr. Buettner is the senior author of the study and Associate Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease). "Someone who regularly binge drinks even once a week, over many years, may remain in an insulin resistant state for an extended period of time, potentially years," said Dr. Buettner in the news release. In this study, researchers treated rats with alcohol for three consecutive days to simulate human binge drinking.
Metabolic syndrome and binge drinking
A control group received the same amount of calories. Once alcohol was no longer detectable in blood, glucose metabolism was studied through either glucose-tolerance tests or through controlled-insulin infusions. The rats treated with alcohol were found to have higher concentrations of plasma insulin than the control group, suggesting that insulin resistance may have been the cause of the impaired glucose tolerance.
High plasma insulin levels are a major component of the metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that occur together and increase the risk for Type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and stroke. "Previously it was unclear whether binge drinking was associated with an increased risk for diabetes, since a person who binge drinks may also tend to binge eat, or at least eat too much. Our data show for the first time that binge drinking induces insulin resistance directly and can occur independent of differences in caloric intake," said Claudia Lindtner, MD, first author of the study and an Associate Researcher of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at the Icahn School of Medicine.
Comments