An international research team has found that some of the damage provoked to brain cells by excessive drinking could be repaired.

But the action to stop the drinking should be taken as quickly as possible, because the longer the heavy drinking period is, the less are brain's auto-healing capacities. "The core message from this study is that, for alcoholics, abstinence pays off and enables the brain to regain some substance and to perform better," said Dr Andreas Bartsch, of the University of Wuerzburg, in Germany.

The effect of a sole drinking session can be slurred speech, blurred vision and an inability to walk without swaying but chronic alcohol abuse can provoke a much more lasting damage on the brain and other internal organs (liver, kidney, pancreas and so on).
Studies made on animals have revealed that ethanol (the molecule of the alcohol) can disrupt the development of new brain cells in adults. Heavy drinking during pregnancy can also affect the development of the baby's brain provoking the fetal alcohol syndrome, associated with mental retardation.

The international team composed of researchers from Germany, Britain, Switzerland and Italy investigated the brain's regenerative ability by measuring the volume, form and function of the brain of 15 alcoholic men and women before and after they stopped drinking to see how much their brain evolved over seven weeks.

Using sophisticated scanning techniques, they found that after 38 days without a drink the brain volume of the patients increased by an average of nearly 2 %. "Only the one patient with the longest history of alcohol dependence had a slightly reduced brain volume," said Bartsch, whose findings are reported by the online journal Brain.

The drinking stop also improved concentration and attention test and rose levels of chemicals linked to brain cell function. All of the subjects in the study have stopped drinking without medication. "The human brain, and particularly its white matter, seems to possess genuine capabilities for re-growth," Bartsch said.