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 the 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 ability to regenerate itself. Previous studies have shown that certain areas of the brain can recover 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 (over six months) is not entirely clear," according to a new paper published in the journal Alcohol.
To get to the bottom of the issue, a team of researchers led by psychiatrist and behavioral scientist Timothy Durazzo of Stanford University examined MRI scans of people with alcoholism who had been treated for it at medical centers 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 scans after one week of abstinence were missing for them. 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 analyzed MRI scans of 45 nonsmokers without alcohol dependence recruited from San Francisco residents. MRI scans were performed at the beginning of the study and after nine months to make sure there were no changes in the cortical areas of the brain.
Using the specialized 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 in people who had given up alcohol, cortical thickness in all 34 areas increased most actively between the first week and the first month of withdrawal, while the process slowed down in the subsequent time period. Recovery was slower in participants with high blood pressure or cholesterol levels, as well as in 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 generalizable conclusion. Plus, the scientists did not examine whether the changes in the cortex affected brain function.
"Larger longitudinal studies are needed to examine how recovery of cortical thickness during long-term abstinence from alcohol relates to neurocognitive and psychosocial parameters," the authors said.