Scientists have learned how long it takes for the brain to recover from alcoholism
The brain is capable of restoring its structure after stopping drinking, and American researchers have found that it doesn't take long for this to happen.
According to WHO, there is no safe level of alcohol consumption for health. Alcohol provokes the development of many diseases, including at least seven types of cancer. The negative effects of drinking on the brain are also well known: people with this addiction tend to have thinning areas of the cerebral cortex, the "wrinkled" outer layer responsible for many higher cognitive functions.
The human body, however, has an amazing capacity for self-regeneration. Previous studies have shown that certain areas of the brain can regenerate when a person gives up alcohol. But how quickly and to what extent does this recovery occur?
"The few longitudinal studies examining changes in cortical thickness during alcohol withdrawal are limited to the first month of sobriety. <...> The extent of recovery of zonal cortical thickness with prolonged abstinence (beyond six months) is not entirely clear," according to a new paper published in the journal Alcohol.
To understand the issue, a team of researchers led by psychiatrist and behavioural scientist Timothy Durazzo from Stanford University studied MRI scans of people with alcoholism who had been treated for it at medical centres and clinics in San Francisco. Brain scans were performed one week, one month and 7.3 months after giving up alcohol.
The study looked at a total of 88 participants with alcohol dependence. Some of them (20 people) joined the project after one month of withdrawal, so they were missing scans after one week of abstinence. All three MRI procedures were performed on 40 people who did not drink alcohol throughout the study.
In addition, as a control group, the researchers analysed MRI scans of 45 non-smokers without alcohol dependence recruited from San Francisco residents. MRI scans were performed at the beginning of the study and nine months later to make sure there were no changes in the cortical areas of the brain.
Using a specialised computer program FreeSurfer, the researchers assessed the thickness of the cortical layer in 34 areas, averaging measurements for the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The most pronounced cortical recovery in people with alcoholism was observed after 7.3 months of alcohol withdrawal. After this time, cortical thickness measurements at 24 of the 34 sites examined were statistically equivalent to those of the control group.
It was also found that the cortical thickness in all 34 areas of the abstinent group increased most actively between the first week and the first month of withdrawal, and slowed down in the subsequent time period. Recovery was slower in participants with high blood pressure or cholesterol levels, as well as smokers.
While the results of the study are encouraging and provide new insights into brain recovery after quitting alcohol, the small size and lack of diversity in the sample prevented a generalisable conclusion. Plus, the scientists did not look at whether the changes in the cortex affected brain function.
"Larger longitudinal studies are needed to examine how the recovery of cortical thickness during long-term abstinence from alcohol relates to neurocognitive and psychosocial parameters," the authors said.