Study, Statement Focus on Alcohol Damage

Long-term alcohol abuse can severely damage the brain’s outer layer, a new study finds. The damaged layer is the cerebral cortex. It is involved in all higher-level thinking and processing of emotions. Researchers used advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to look at the brains of 65 adults. About half were alcoholics who had stopped drinking. The others had never been alcoholics. In the recovering alcoholic group, the cerebral cortex was thinner. The more people drank, the thinner this layer was. The journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it September 15. HealthDay also wrote about a statement urging doctors and governments to do more to fight alcohol abuse. The journal Lancet published it September 14. The statement came from a group of 17 leading doctors.