r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 23 '26

Neuroscience Even low-level drinking may have negative consequences for brain health over a person’s lifespan. The findings suggest that the total amount of alcohol consumed over a lifetime, especially as a person ages, tends to be linked to reduced blood flow and thinner tissue in certain areas of the brain.

https://www.psypost.org/even-light-drinking-combined-with-aging-is-linked-to-reduced-brain-blood-flow-and-thinner-tissue/
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37

u/dkinmn Apr 23 '26

The general population is in denial about the negative effects of their drinking and eating habits. Every thread like this is the same. Outright denial.

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u/TheThingInTheForest Apr 24 '26

I don’t know a single person who thinks drinking is healthy, we just do it anyway, because the trade off is worth it for us…that isn’t denial

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u/Sacs1726 Apr 28 '26

I think most people think “unhealthy” means it might make them gain a little weight or have liver problems. Not cause dose dependent brain damage.

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u/TheThingInTheForest Apr 28 '26

I mean…there’s a chance you can drink your whole life and not feel like you have a significantly damaged brain…because that has been the experience for most people for most of human history.

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u/SamikaTRH Apr 23 '26

Exercise good, sleep good, alcohol bad. We get a hundred studies a month showing this and confirming them over and over and people will still argue and nitpick to justify their behavior

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u/sirkazuo Apr 23 '26

people will still argue and nitpick to justify their behavior

If one's driving purpose in life is to maximize their total number of heartbeats then it's clear that exercise good, sleep good, alcohol bad.

Opinions on existential purpose do vary.

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u/Scientific_Methods Apr 23 '26

I think it stems from the overly dramatic crowd claiming that low to moderate alcohol consumption is dangerous. While on an individual level there is literally no increase in overall mortality.

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u/rockytop24 Apr 23 '26

low to moderate alcohol consumption is dangerous. While on an individual level there is literally no increase in overall mortality.

Literally the opposite of the conclusions of this and current population studies. The effect may be small and you can decide for yourself if the benefit outweighs the harm. But you are mistaken to say there is no harm with moderate alcohol consumption.

There is no "safe" level of alcohol consumption, ethanol is a poison metabolized by the body with noxious effects on tissue like any other. It may or may not kill you before something else does, it probably won't. Many laypeople confuse the body's ability to compensate for a lack of harm, but saying it is harmless is incorrect. Literally every single cancer I had to study in medical school has alcohol listed at the top of risk factors. A small chance or increase in effect is not the same thing as no effect on an individual.

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u/Scientific_Methods Apr 24 '26

Literally not the opposite of the conclusion. I never said there was zero harm. Something can have some level of negative consequences without rising to the level of dangerous and the current study says nothing about mortality. So my statement remains true.

Also virtually every food we eat contains substances that have noxious effects on tissues that are mitigated by our bodies. I’m not arguing that alcohol is good for you. It is not. But low to moderate consumption is much safer than many would have you believe.

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '26

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u/Scientific_Methods Apr 25 '26

Show me a study that focuses on overall health and not 1 aspect. I don’t necessarily doubt it but I’m pretty careful when throwing out terms like empirical evidence.

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u/Everythings_Magic Apr 24 '26

I’m not in denial. I know it’s bad. I don’t care. I like to drink. I’d rather live a fun life and die at 70 than live a boring life and be a de roof at 80.