Alcohol abuse more harmful to female brain

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, 45% of county women consume alcohol, 2% are chronic drinkers, and 16% are binge drinkers. In actuality, those figures may be higher because, when asked, many heavy drinkers “sanitize” their response to a lesser amount. According to a new study by Swedish researchers, alcohol abuse appears to be much more detrimental to the female brain than to the male brain. Researchers from the multidisciplinary Gothenburg Alcohol Research Project in Sweden found that after four years of excessive drinking, women experienced the same loss of serotonergic function that occurred in men who had been abusing alcohol for 12 years. "We have to be aware that women are more vulnerable to excessive drinking, not just bodily harm but also [harm] to the brain. We also have to be aware that prevalent psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are related to imbalance in the serotonin system and which women often are seeking help for, may also be influenced by excessive drinking," noted principal investigator Claudia Fahlke, PhD, from the Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg. The study was published online July 28 in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and will appear in the January 2012 print edition of the journal.

How Alcohol Impacts the Brain

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According to the study, alcohol dependence has been associated with reduced function of serotonin and dopamine, as well as with a reduction of noradrenaline activity. The researchers note that no previous study had investigated all three systems in the same alcohol-dependent individuals. They investigated all three systems in a group of alcohol-dependent individuals and compared them with those of a group of control participants who engaged in non-harmful alcohol consumption. The study group was comprised of 70 individuals: 19 women (10 alcohol-dependent, 9 healthy control patients) and 51 men (32 alcohol-dependent, 19 control patients). All of the alcohol-dependent participants were recruited from three outpatient clinics and were considered high-functioning: 86% had jobs, and 93% had permanent residences. Men and women had consumed the same amount of alcohol during the last year before the investigation; the average alcohol intake during that period was 759 ± 564 grams of pure alcohol per week.

Testing revealed that both sexes experienced a 45% decrease in serotonergic neural transmission relative to control participants at three, four, and five after citalopram administration. However, the effect was seen after only four years of alcohol abuse in women compared with 14 years in men. (Citalopram administration measures serotonin response in the brain.) "We expected that long-term excessive alcohol intake would impair the serotonin function in both genders, but [it] was a surprise for us that women´s serotonin function should be equally affected as men's, despite [the fact] that they, on average, had been drinking excessively just for 4 years," Dr. Fahlke said. According to the authors, the similar loss of serotonergic function in alcohol-dependent women and men despite the disparity in length of alcohol abuse suggests a "telescoping effect" in women.

Alcohol and health

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Alcohol use increases risk of, and worsens, osteoporosis

Drinking is a health risk for many reasons, such as what it does to the heart and many other organs. What several studies have revealed in the past decade and a half is how alcohol deteriorates bone and cartilage.

Is Drinking Alcohol Harming Your Bones

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Soft tissue, like spinal discs, are largely comprised of fluid. Alcohol dehydrates the body. As I personally experienced, the dehydrated discs lose elasticity. The spine is a series of joints cushioned by the discs, and when the discs get deteriorate, the lining of these joints gets worn and aggravated. It's not a pleasant feeling.

Bones deteriorate, too. Alcohol use, especially during adolescence and young adult years ups the risk of osteoporosis later in life. Two or three ounces of alcohol every day is all it takes for the small intestine to not absorb calcium adequately. Alcohol also messes with the kidneys, pancreas and liver and their regulation of calcium and vitamin D. Vitamin D, which in turn is important for calcium absorption. When alcohol lowers blood calcium, a parathyroid hormone is released by four rice-sized glands at the rear of the thyroid. The hormone leaches calcium from the bone.

Two other hormones important to bone health also are under seige from alcohol. For women, alcohol decreases estrogen. As estrogen drops, it leads to bone loss. In the menopausal years, this adds to the bone loss that's naturally occurring. The stress hormone cortisol – a key topic in the alcoholism relapse book Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud – is found at a higher baseline in those of us with the disease of alcoholism, and remains high even after quitting. High levels of cortisol decrease bone formation and increase bone breakdown.

Also, excess alcohol kills osteoblasts and osteoclasts, that's doctor-speak for cells that make bones. No osteo-cells, no new bone growth or remodeling.

Let's compound that with lousy balance when drinking. A drinker is more likely to fall, and the bones depleted by drinking are more apt to break. There's good news here though: Some studies have found that lost bone can be partially restored within 60 days of quitting. Another reason sobriety is better to have than to lack.

Calcium, Bone Density and Osteoporosis

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Excess drinking behind deadly lung conditions in new study

Heavy drinkers are at a much greater risk of developing lung problems, like pneumonia and life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), according to new research from Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University. Researchers suspect those with the disease of alcoholism are more susceptible to these lung diseases because the immune system in the lung is no longer strong enough to protect from infection and damage, the June 30 report concludes.

The Dangers of Smoking for Alcoholics

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Similar to how alcohol begins to destroy the liver, researchers discovered that one of the keys to immune system failure in the lung is a build-up of fat. “We call it the alcoholic fatty lung,” says lead researcher Ross Summer, M.D. “The fat accumulation in the lungs mimics the process that causes fat to build up and destroy the liver of alcoholics.” The unique finding offers the possibility of a new treatment.

When people drink, liver cells begin to produce fat, possibly as a defense mechanism against the toxicity of the alcohol or because the body fuels itself on alcohol calories rather than fats. Over extended and frequent alcohol exposure, the fat accumulates and heavy drinkers develop “fatty liver disease.” The fat impairs liver function but can also cause scarring that eventually leads to liver failure.

The lungs also contain cells that make fat to coat the inner lining of the lung to keep the airways properly lubricated during breathing. Dr. Summer and colleagues explored whether these cells might behave in a similar way to liver cells after extended alcohol exposure by also accumulating fat.

After extended exposure to alcohol in rats, the researchers noticed that lung's fat-secreting cells doubled their production of triglycerides (a cholesterol) and increased free fatty acids by 300 percent compared to rats fed a non-alcoholic diet. The researchers also observed more fats in lung macrophages, which are immune cells that normally rid lungs of bacteria and sick cells. “It’s likely that the macrophages try to engulf the excess fat in order to protect the cells in the lung, but in doing so, they become less effective sentinels against infection and disease,” said Summer.

If the same process can be observed in humans – research that Dr. Summer is currently exploring – it would suggest that lipid-lowering “fibrate” drugs could be useful in treating alcohol-related pneumonia and in preventing the development of ARDS. Fibrates are not the same as the commonly-prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin drugs such as the brand Lipitor. Fibrates reduce the production of triglycerides and can increase HDL (good) cholesterol. Examples include the brands Atromid, Tricor and Lopid.

Risks of chronic Liver disease due to heavy drinking

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