According to the scientists, it is obvious that the brain can regenerate several its function disappearing when a person consumes too much alcohol. However, they warn that the longer you drink, the more brain capacity you lose. And as a result, you can never fully replace what you have lost.
These results were obtained by the investigators from Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. They are published in the December 18 online edition of the journal Brain.
The research was carried out on fifteen alcohol-dependent persons and used scanning technology and computer programs to evaluate how much "brain volume, form and function altered the period of six to seven weeks of alcohol sobriety," in accordance with a news release from Oxford University Press, the journal publisher.
After thirty eight days of abstinence, the participants of the research appeared to have had their brain volume increased by about 2 per cent, and two chemicals measuring how well the nerve cells and nerve sheaths function also increased considerably.
Nevertheless, before heavy drinkers think that these results confirm that you can drink to excess habitually and not do permanent harm, think again, warns lead scientist, Dr Andreas Bartsch from the University of Wuerzburg, Germany. "… the longer you drink excessively, the more you increase your risk of losing this capacity for regeneration. Consequently, alcoholics must not postpone the moment when they decide to ask for help and give up drinking; the sooner they do it, the better."
