All alcohol destroys some part of the liver and the brain. It's not something our bodies were ever meant to ingest, despite how popular it is to do so. One drop of pure alcohol (about the amount in a glass of wine) permanently kills some 10,000 or so brain cells.

But hey if it feels good temporarily, that's all that matters. Drink up!

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Cruxifux 51 points 3 years ago

Alcohol doesn’t actually kill brain cells. It causes short and long term damage to your brain in other ways, as it is a neurotoxin. But the brain cells thing is a myth put forward by puritans because they’re idiots that don’t understand that you don’t have to lie constantly to get your point across.

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DragonTypeWyvern -22 points 3 years ago

It does... That's what causes the brain to shrink in alcoholics. Because it's a neurotoxin? You admit it yourself, weird take.

The thing is the "myth" was "debunked" for a while because medical science thought brain cells couldn't be replaced, because they couldn't identify the replacement mechanism. If alcohol just killed brain cells outright brain death would happen pretty quickly compared to cirrhosis.

The problem with that idea is it's just wrong. Modern studies proved that not only can brain cells be replaced, it happens frequently, as part of normal bodily functions.

Of course, because it is normal, casual drinkers don't really need to worry about it, and it's really only a problem if you're regularly getting blackout drunk. Only severe alcoholics are going to actually run into health problems in that regard, and even then their liver is almost guaranteed to fail first.

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Cruxifux 19 points 3 years ago

https://www.mentalfloss.com/...

“When this alcohol reaches the brain, it doesn’t kill the cells. What it does is inhibit the communication between dendrites, or branching connections at the ends of neurons that send and receive information between neurons, in the cerebellum, a part of the brain involved in motor coordination. This poor communication results in some of the typical impairments of intoxication. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found that alcohol, even when applied directly to neurons, didn’t kill them. It just interfered with the way they transmit information. Specifically, the researchers showed that alcohol causes certain receptors on neurons to manufacture steroids that inhibit memory formation. “

Nothing I said was incorrect as far as I can tell.

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DragonTypeWyvern -12 points 3 years ago

https://www.health.harvard.edu/...

The body is a funny thing. You don't need to kill a cell directly to cause cellular death, you can, for example, impair cellular fluid replenishment, short circuit repair functions, prevent replication, cause DNA damage that triggers immune responses, etc.

Now, one of the problems with these studies is you can't do brain biopsies on living subjects because of, you know, medical ethics, so it's always possible the shrinkage is a result of fluid loss that just happens to impair memory as well, so the cells are technically alive, but useless.

You very well might be correct that alcohol doesn't directly kill brain cells, but I think you should ask yourself whether being correct on the technicalities is worth more than being correct on the results in this matter.

There simply is not a safe amount of alcohol to consume for brain health.

That's why you should switch to LSD instead.

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General_Shenanigans 2 points 3 years ago

As somebody who used to be a functional alcoholic, here’s how I like to put it to people simply: The brain doesn’t operate independently of the body. If you’re consuming something that negatively affects systems across the entire body, even if the short term effects on the brain aren’t as severe as those other parts, it will still end up affected. If you’re a drinker and you’re noticing long-term effects in your brain, you’ve likely by that point already done much more severe damage to your other internal organs. That damage affects your brain’s ability to take care of itself, among other things. Let’s just say it’s best to not let things get to that point.

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Cruxifux 2 points 3 years ago

That’s a good point too. Alcohol damages your body. This is undisputed fact. I get annoyed though with guys like this who tell easily verifiable lies and then starts telling people “YOU’RE STUPID BECAUSE YOU DRINK” and being a dumbass about it. Enjoying drinking in moderation doesn’t make you stupid or irresponsible, this guy fuck all the way off with that shit.

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tygerprints -41 points 3 years ago

What I meant is, alcohol is actually good for your brain and helps repair damage. Drink up!

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Cruxifux 35 points 3 years ago

Nobody drinks because it’s good for them. Nobody thinks or pretends it’s good for them. And it’s actually fine if you do it in moderation.

This kind of weird holier than thou fear mongering about substances is why we have the war on drugs now. It irritates me.

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proudblond 9 points 3 years ago

I mean… for a while there, my parents drank red wine every night because people said there were health benefits. I think it’s been mostly debunked now (or at least any benefit is counteracted by the downsides) but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a significant portion of the population who either didn’t get the memo, or did and choose to believe what they want to believe.

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tygerprints -46 points 3 years ago

But drinking IS good for you and it DOES heal the body and give people superpowers. I'm all for people drinking themselves into a stupor because they will feel SO, so good from it. I really do encourage it and all the drug abuse that is humanly possible, it makes me feel good to see it, and I truly do support it all.

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Donkter 12 points 3 years ago

Look at this scallywag, they don't even need alcohol to have a destroyed brain!

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tygerprints -4 points 3 years ago

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DragonTypeWyvern -2 points 3 years ago

The problem with encouraging alcoholism as a population filter is it doesn't tend to improve the actual health of the gene pool, as alcoholics are great at the breeding part.

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tygerprints -3 points 3 years ago

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AmidFuror 35 points 3 years ago

No one has called you out on the other obviously false claim here - that a glass of wine has one "drop" of pure alcohol.

In the US, a standard glass of wine is 5 fl oz (about 150mL) and 12% alcohol by volume. A "drop" varies but is going to be about 0.05mL (20 drops per mL).

A glass of wine has the equivalent of about 12% x 150mL = 18mL of pure alcohol. That's roughly 360 drops.

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5oap10116 20 points 3 years ago

Chemist here. Thank you for fixing that. It has quelled the rage that began to grow.

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ShepherdPie 2 points 3 years ago

As a previous student of a chemistry class, I'm shocked you didn't highlight the importance of significant figures.

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5oap10116 2 points 3 years ago

That's the secret. Real chemists don't really care most of the time

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Paddzr 3 points 3 years ago

I thought "drop" was a defined amount? Like from a pipet type of drop?

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AmidFuror 4 points 3 years ago

What's the bore size and the surface tension of the liquid?

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Cruxifux 2 points 3 years ago

It was all stupid, I just picked the easiest one because I’m lazy.

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