Alcohol very easily finds its way into the brain, and when there, has a profound effect on many of the brain’s structures and functions. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, meaning it is poisonous to neurons, the main type of brain cell. It causes both short term and long term effects and harm to the brain, although the risks and harms change throughout our life course.
Our film looks at how alcohol gets into the brain, which parts of the brain it affects, the acute and chronic harms it can cause, how it can harm the brain of foetuses, adolescents, adults, and older people, and what can be done to reduce this harm.
Our expert speaker is Dr Anya Topiwala, Senior Clinical Researcher at the University of Oxford, who has published brain imaging studies relating to alcohol consumption and harm.
00:00 – Intro
00:28 – How does alcohol enter the brain?
00:56 – What parts of the brain does alcohol affect?
02:22 – Acute effects and harms of alcohol
03:22 – Chronic effects and harms of alcohol
04:52 – Alcohol’s effect on the brain of a foetus
05:42 – Alcohol’s effect on the brain of adolescents
07:02 – Alcohol’s effect on the brain of adults and older people
10:20 – What can be done to reduce harm?
Literature referred to in the film includes:
– Alcohol and the brain literature review: https://alcoholandsociety.report/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Alcohol-and-the-brain_Alcohol-and-society-2024_report_en.pdf
– Moderate alcohol use is associated with decreased brain volume in early middle age in both sexes: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70910-5
– Estimation of national, regional, and global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(17)30021-9/fulltext
– Risk Factors in Late Adolescence for Young-Onset Dementia in Men: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1726998
– Age of Alcohol-Dependence Onset: Associations With Severity of Dependence and Seeking Treatment: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/118/3/e755/69278/Age-of-Alcohol-Dependence-Onset-Associations-With?redirectedFrom=fulltext
– Atypical effective connectivity from the frontal cortex to striatum in alcohol use disorder: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-03083-8
– Associations of common mental disorder with alcohol use in the adult general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.15735
– Alcohol and the Risk of Injury: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/8/2777
– Alcohol use and death by suicide: A meta-analysis of 33 studies: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sltb.12846
– The more you drink, the harder you fall: A systematic review and meta-analysis of how acute alcohol consumption and injury or collision risk increase together: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871610000712?via%3Dihub
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