IF YOU ARE OVER 60 DRINK UP FOR YOUR MEMORY

Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, University of Kentucky, and University of Maryland found that for people 60 and older who do not have dementia, light alcohol consumption during late life is associated with higher episodic memory -- the ability to recall memories of events.

Moderate alcohol consumption was also linked with a larger volume in the hippocampus, a brain region critical for episodic memory. The relationship between light alcohol consumption and episodic memory goes away if hippocampal volume is factored in, providing new evidence that hippocampal functioning is the critical factor in these improvements. These findings were detailed in the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias.

This study used data from more than 660 patients in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort. These patients completed surveys on their alcohol consumption and demographics, a battery of neuropsychological assessments, the presence or absence of the genetic Alzheimer's disease risk factor APOE e4 and MRIs of their brains. The researchers found that light and moderate alcohol consumption in older people is associated with higher episodic memory and is linked with larger hippocampal brain volume. Amount of alcohol consumption had no impact on executive function or overall mental ability.

Findings from animal studies suggest that moderate alcohol consumption may contribute to preserved hippocampal volume by promoting generation of new nerve cells in the hippocampus. In addition, exposing the brain to moderate amounts of alcohol may increase the release of brain chemicals involved with cognitive, or information processing, functions.

"There were no significant differences in cognitive functioning and regional brain volumes during late life according to reported midlife alcohol consumption status," said lead author Brian Downer, UTMB Sealy Center on Aging postdoctoral fellow. "This may be due to the fact that adults who are able to continue consuming alcohol into old age are healthier, and therefore have higher cognition and larger regional brain volumes, than people who had to decrease their alcohol consumption due to unfavorable health outcomes."

Although the potential benefits of light to moderate alcohol consumption to cognitive learning and memory later in life have been consistently reported, extended periods of abusing alcohol, often defined as having five or more alcoholic beverages during a single drinking occasion is known to be harmful to the brain.

WOMEN WHO DRINK MILK MAY DELAY OSTEOARTHRITIS

New research reports that women who frequently consume fat-free or low-fat milk may delay the progression of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Results published in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) journal, Arthritis Care & Research, show that women who ate cheese saw an increase in knee OA progression. Yogurt did not impact OA progression in men or women

OA is a common, degenerative joint disease that causes pain and swelling of joints in the hand, hips, or knee. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), OA affects nearly 27 million Americans age 25 and older, with knee OA being more prevalent and severe in women. While medical evidence points to obesity, joint injury, and repetitive use from some sports as risk factors for incident knee OA, risks associated with OA progression remain unclear.

"Milk consumption plays an important role in bone health," explains lead author Bing Lu, M.D., Dr.P.H., from Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. "Our study is the largest study to investigate the impact of dairy intake in the progression of knee OA."

For the present study 2,148 participants (3,064 knees) with knee OA were recruited for the Osteoarthritis Initiative. At the start of the study dietary data was collected and joint space width was measured by x-ray to evaluate OA progression. Subjects included 888 men and 1,260 women who had follow-up at 12, 24, 36, and 48 months.

As the intake of milk increased from none to less than 3 , 4-6, and more than 7 (8 oz) glasses per week, the joint space width in women also decreased by 0.38mm, 0.29mm,0.29mm and 0.26mm, respectively. Results persisted even after adjusting for disease severity, body mass index (BMI) and dietary factors. No association between milk consumption and joint space width decrease was reported in men.

"Our findings indicate that women who frequently drink milk may reduce the progression of OA," concludes Dr. Lu. "Further study of milk intake and delay in OA progression are needed."

In a related editorial also published in Arthritis Care & Research, Shivani Sahni, Ph.D., and Robert McLean, D.Sc., M.P.H., from Harvard-affiliated Hebrew SeniorLife Institute for Aging Research agree, "With the aging population and increase in life expectancy, there is an urgent need for effective methods to manage OA. The study by Lu et al. provides the first evidence that increasing fat-free or low-fat milk consumption may slow the progression of OA among women who are particularly burdened by OA of the knee, which can lead to functional disability."

The Demon Drink And Nerve Damage

Today's post from health24.com (see link below) from South Africa, is not meant to be preachy but may come over that way. The fact is that for some people, long-term or excessive drinking can have a disastrous effect on your nervous system and frequently leads to neuropathy. Ironically, many people turn to alcohol to deflect the effects of chronic pain but it only leads to worsening of the symptoms and if you don't already have it...nerve damage. That said, you may wonder why and how alcohol can be so destructive. This article attempts to explain how alcohol can not only affect your nervous system but all areas of your life and is therefore not specifically focused on neuropathy. Nevertheless, the risk of nerve damage, with all its painful consequences is very real. The question is: what is long-term and what is excessive? You probably know the answer to that already!

Alcohol and your nervous system
Lauren Burley Copley Updated 31 October 2016 
 
Have you ever wondered how alcohol affects your memory, or changes your behaviour? 
 
Most of us who enjoy drinking alcohol know that after a hideously stressful day at the office it’s the norm to go out with friends for a “pick-me-up” drink, or go home and collapse on the couch to relax with a beer or glass of your favourite wine.

But before you take that next swig, have you ever thought what alcohol does to your body, and more specifically, to your nervous system?
Not to be a killjoy, but like with most things, moderation is the key word when consuming alcohol.

Read: Is your colleague an alcoholic?

Turns out that South Africans like to drink; in fact, we are some of the biggest boozers in the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Consider this sobering statistic:

About 130 people in South Africa die each day due to alcohol related incidents, says Professor Charles Parry, director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council (MRC).

His concern goes beyond statistics; he says various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions are "entirely attributable to alcohol". These include many mental and behavioural disorders, foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and nervous system damage.

Read: Foetal alcohol syndrome highest in SA

“The more alcohol you drink, the more problematic these disease-related complications become,” Professor Parry warns.

How exactly does alcohol affect your central nervous system (CNS), (i.e. your brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (PNS)?

The CNS plays such vital roles that your body cannot survive without it. These include taking in and processing information through the senses, controlling complex motor functions as well as other tasks like reasoning, thinking and, understanding.

Alcohol acts as a depressant on the brain and other nerve tissue. This means it slows down the functioning of nerves cell and activity in the CNS, explains neurologist Dr Stuart Kieran of Bitterroot Neurology in Montana, USA.

It might sound odd, since most people usually become less reserved and more animated after drinking alcohol. Fact is, the acute feeling of euphoria or loss of inhibition is not stimulation, says Dr Kieran, but rather the result of "certain areas of the brain that normally control judgment, reasoning and instincts being suppressed".

How alcohol affects your brain

As you continue drinking and more alcohol enters your brain, it impairs your judgement, vision and alertness; dulls the senses; affects concentration; slows your reaction time; and decreases coordination. Just observe a few people having a drink or three and it will soon become obvious that everyone responds differently to alcohol and has varying tolerance levels.

Quiz: Take this test to see if you are drinking too much

Many factors influence "how and to what extent alcohol affects your brain", according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. These include how much and how often you drink; at what age you started drinking; your gender; weight; general health status; and family history of alcoholism.

In addition, whether you’re consuming alcohol with food, the period over which you drink, whether you’re mixing it with other drugs like marijuana and even your mood and psychological make-up all contribute to the way alcohol affects the CNS, says an article on Science NetLinks, an educational project linked to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Long-term effects

Normally your brain’s protective blood-brain barrier prevents or slows the passage of some drugs and other damaging substances from the blood into the CNS. But that doesn’t apply to alcohol, because it’s able to cross this barrier and reach nerve cells (neurons) directly within minutes. There’s also no digestion needed for alcohol, so your body metabolises it before many other nutrients.

When a large amount of alcohol quickly enters the brain, it causes a rapid rise in blood alcohol concentration (BAC), seriously disrupting the activities of several neurotransmitters in specific areas.

If alcohol merely resulted in taking dumb decisions, walking unsteadily, slurring your speech and generally acting like a clumsy clown for a couple of hours, it would probably not be such a big deal.

Read: Why you should kick your drinking habit

Neurologist Dr Kieran says while the acute effect of alcohol on the cerebellum (the area of the brain that controls coordination, movement, balance and complex motor functions) is temporary, chronic effects are not temporary. Alcohol can have a "toxic effect on nerve tissue and cause permanent imbalance", he remarks.

Don’t dismiss the other long-term effects alcohol can have on the body’s CNS. Aside from damaging your nerve cells permanently, long- term alcohol use can also cause short-term memory loss, forgetfulness, weakness and sensation problems like numbness or tingling.

Ways in which alcohol affects your nervous system:

· Memory impairment: Alcohol can cause memory loss (amnesia), and when used long term, can result in permanent memory loss and confusion.

· Impaired walking, reaction time and hand-eye coordination: Alcohol can affect both the inner ear and cerebellum that are involved in balance and coordination, causing walking and sensation difficulties.

· Sleep disturbances: While small amounts of alcohol may initially have a sedating effect, it disrupts sleep overall. It can also cause nightmares and aggravate sleep apnoea, a potentially serious sleep disorder where breathing constantly stops and starts.

· Behavioural changes: The ethanol in alcohol can cause damage to brain neurotransmitters. If this damage is ongoing, it can result in behavioural and mood changes such as depression, anxiety and seizures.

· Alcoholic blackouts: This occurs when you quickly drink a large amount of alcohol. You are still conscious, awake, and able to move, walk and talk, but cannot recall some or all of the events that happened while intoxicated. Individuals that have an alcohol blackout are 70% more likely to get alcohol poisoning, requiring emergency medical treatment.

· Peripheral neuropathy: Chronic or heavy alcohol use can cause this disorder, which involves damage to the peripheral nerves in the feet and legs, resulting in malfunctioning. Peripheral neuropathy produces lack of sensation in the feet, which contributes to unsteadiness.

Bottom line, says Dr Kieran, is that while using "small amounts of alcohol in a responsible way" can be enjoyable for many, remember that just like any other drug, alcohol has many potential side effects and consequences.

Video: Watch what happened when our colleagues at Wheels24 tried on the “drunk goggles”.

Sources

1. http://www.health.harvard.edu/addiction/alcohols-effects-on-the-body


2. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arcr352/155-173.htm

3. http://sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/alcohol/ebook/pages/central-nervous-system.htmCentral Nervous System (CNS)

4. http://www.health.harvard.edu/addiction/alcohol-abuse

5. http://www.mdmh.org/docs/Alcohol_and_the_Nervous_System.Kieran.pdf


6. http://www.hercampus.com/health/physical-health/blacking-out-why-it-s-more-dangerous-you-think

http://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Healthy-Nerves/heres-how-alcohol-messes-with-your-nervous-system-20160509