According to a research by German scientists drinking wine causes more damage to the part of the brain, which provides memory and spatial awareness than most other forms of alcohol.
The Gottingen University researchers said in an article in the Alcohol and Alcoholics journal that very little was known about which drinks were more harmful to the brain.The study involved comparing brain scans of alcoholics and healthy adults. Participants were also asked what drinks they preferred.
The hippocampus, which is associated with memory, is one of the first regions of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
This hippocampus area in the brain was up to 10 per cent smaller in alcoholics when compared to “healthy” adults.
According to the researchers, the average size of the hippocampus in non-alcoholics was 3.85ml. For wine drinkers, it was just 2.8ml. In comparison, beer drinkers (3.4ml) and spirit drinkers (2.8ml) had a larger hippocampus than those who consumed wine.
“This is the first study investigating the impact of the type of preferred beverage on brain-volume shrinkage in patients with alcohol dependence,” said the researchers.
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Source-Medindia
THK/L
