For the first time, researchers were able to see in the image what goes on in the brains of heavy drinkers?
Indeed, thanks to very sophisticated imaging techniques, a team of researchers from California was able for the first time to observe live what happens in the brain of a dependent person when he drinks a glass of alcohol … And above all to show what is different with a very occasional consumer.
A drink of alcohol in a dependent person does not produce the same effects as in a “healthy” person?
Yes, the areas of the brain “activated” by alcohol were different in people with addictions. Let me explain: when an adult drinks a glass of alcohol to celebrate a special occasion, alcohol will activate in his brain a small group of very specific neurons, the nucleus accumbens, which will trigger the pleasure mechanism. But in an alcoholic person, it is not at all the same area that is activated, it is the orbito-frontal cortex. This experiment therefore shows, with supporting images, that the brain of a dependent person no longer functions in the same way as a healthy person.
Will this experience make it possible to discover the treatments that will cure alcoholism?
This study encourages those who seek treatment to modify or correct these physiological mechanisms. But, be careful on this subject, you have to temper your enthusiasm and not wait for a miracle cure! All the medical specialists say it: alcoholism is a disease which depends on many factors, psychological, genetic, or sociological factors … The main interest of this study, it is to give an additional argument to convince that alcoholism is indeed a disease! It is not simply a “problem of will”, as we still hear sometimes …
So, don’t hesitate to talk to your doctor about it …
Of course, and besides, one should not wait to be in a situation of dependency to discuss this question with your doctor. Alcohol is toxic to health, even in small doses. Inappropriate alcohol consumption is the 2e cause of preventable early mortality in France. This is not trivial. I remind you that excessive consumption is when the threshold of three glasses per day for a man and two glasses per day for a woman is exceeded … According to the latest figures from the National Institute of Prevention and health education, 15% of men over 40 drink more than three glasses of alcohol a day.
Source:
Alcohol Consumption Induces Endogenous Opioid Release in the Human Orbitofrontal Cortex and Nucleus Accumbens
(Science Translational Medicine)
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