From: gemini23x@gmail.com   
      
   Health   
   Why heavy drinkers can't give up alcohol: Booze damages part of the brain that   
   deals with self-control   
      
   By Madlen Davies for MailOnline   
   21:01 18 Nov 2014, updated 08:53 19 Nov 2014   
      
      
   Why heavy drinkers can't give up alcohol: Booze damages part of the brain that   
   deals with self-control   
      
   Alcoholics damage parts of the brain which could help them stop drinking   
   Drinking damages the white matter tracts in the frontal lobes of the brain   
   Frontal lobes are the integration centre for other parts of the brain   
   These parts are important for self-regulation and impulse control   
   The more alcohol they drink, the greater the damage   
   Even light drinkers had damage in similar areas of the brain   
   |   
      
   Scientists believe they may have cracked why heavy drinkers struggle to give   
   up alcohol.   
      
   They have discovered it causes drinkers to suffer damage in the very part of   
   the brain that governs self control.   
      
   And the more alcohol consumed, the greater the damage.   
      
   Alcoholics damage the very parts of their brains involved in controlling   
   problem drinking, and the more alcohol consumed the greater the damage,   
   researchers found	+3   
   Alcoholics damage the very parts of their brains involved in controlling   
   problem drinking, and the more alcohol consumed the greater the damage,   
   researchers found   
   Alcoholics damage the very parts of their brains involved in controlling   
   problem drinking, and the more alcohol consumed the greater the damage,   
   researchers found   
      
   Brain scans showed alcoholics particularly damage the white matter tracts in   
   the frontal lobes of the brain.   
      
   The frontal lobes are the integration centre for all other parts of the brain   
   that are important for behaviours such as self-monitoring, planning,   
   judgement, reasoning and learning new behaviours.   
      
   Damaging the white tracts in this area interferes with impulse control, which   
   is needed to achieve and maintain abstinence from an addictive substance like   
   alcohol, researchers warned.   
      
   Even light drinkers showed pronounced reductions in similar areas of the brain.   
      
   Professor Catherine Brawn Fortier, of Harvard Medical School, said: 'The idea   
   that alcohol affects the brain has been established for decades.   
      
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   'Before advances in neuroimaging technology, the degree to which alcohol   
   affects the brain across different levels of alcohol use, and how it may   
   interact with other health factors, could only be inferred from behaviour and   
   through post-mortem studies.   
      
   'We now can use neuroimaging techniques to see, in real life, that alcohol has   
   wide ranging effects across the entire brain that contribute to a wide range   
   of changes in psychological abilities and intellectual functions.'   
      
   The brain is usually divided into grey matter - made up of cells that support   
   brain functions - and white matter - the connections among large groups of   
   those cells, she said.   
      
   Professor Brawn Fortier continued: 'We now know that alcohol impacts both grey   
   and white matter, with the greatest impact affecting parts of the brain called   
   the frontal lobes.   
      
   SHARP RISE IN WOMEN OVER 60 TREATED FOR ALCOHOLISM   
      
   Soaring numbers of older women are having treatment for alcoholism, official   
   figures reveal today.   
      
   Over-60s now make up nearly one in ten of all women undergoing formal alcohol   
   dependency programmes.   
      
   Experts say the startling rise in older problem drinkers has been driven by   
   our growing culture of stay-at-home boozing.   
      
   More people than ever have alcohol delivered to their homes by supermarkets   
   and, for many, the home has replaced pubs or bars as the drinking venue of   
   choice.   
      
   There has been a 65 per cent rise in the number of older women treated for   
   alcoholism in the last five years, Public Health England statistics reveal.   
      
      
   'These brain areas are critical to learning new information and, even more   
   importantly, in self-regulation, impulse control, and the modification of all   
   complicated human behaviours.   
      
   'In other words, the very parts of the brain that may be most important for   
   controlling problem drinking are damaged by alcohol, and the more alcohol   
   consumed, the greater the damage.'   
      
   The study used high-resolution structural magnetic resonance (MR) scans to   
   compare the brains of alcoholics against healthy light drinkers.   
      
   It set out to determine the vulnerability of different areas of the brain to   
   continued alcohol abuse, finding that abstinent alcoholics have reductions in   
   white matter pathways across the entire brain.   
      
   Frontal white matter tracts are the pathways that connect the frontal lobes to   
   the rest of the brain.   
      
   Professor Brawn Fortier explained: 'The frontal cortex is the integration   
   centre for all other parts of the brain that are important to behaviour and   
   cognitive function.   
      
   'These pathways support self-monitoring, planning, judgment, and reasoning...   
   Frontal pathways also allow flexibility in learning and memory, and allow us   
   to change and learn new patterns of behaviour.   
      
   'Most importantly, frontal pathways underlie impulse control, which is   
   essential to achieve and maintain abstinence.'   
      
   The study involved 31 abstinent alcoholics with an average of 25 years of   
   abuse and approximately five years of sobriety, and 20 non-alcoholic control   
   participants.   
      
   Alcohol damages the frontal lobes (pictured in blue) of the brain. These brain   
   areas are critical to learning new information, self-regulation and impulse   
   control, so damage makes alcoholics unable to stop drinking	+3   
   Alcohol damages the frontal lobes (pictured in blue) of the brain. These brain   
   areas are critical to learning new information, self-regulation and impulse   
   control, so damage makes alcoholics unable to stop drinking   
   Alcohol damages the frontal lobes (pictured in blue) of the brain. These brain   
   areas are critical to learning new information, self-regulation and impulse   
   control, so damage makes alcoholics unable to stop drinking   
      
   It found alcohol abuse disrupted the pathways that allow the different parts   
   of their brains to communicate efficiently and effectively.   
      
      
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