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For those of you who are drinking too much alcohol, but aren’t yet ready to change, here’s some useful health advice.

Alcohol is highly neurotoxic, meaning it directly destroys nerve cells – both those in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal chord), and those in the peripheral nervous system (the rest of the body).

Unfortunately nerve cells do not regrow as well as ordinary tissue, so such damage can be irreparable.

This can have a number of unpleasant effects, from peripheral neuropathy (pain, numbness or tingling, especially in the extremities), to atrophy of brain tissue.

In alcoholism particularly, this damage to brain tissue can cause a condition known as Korsakoff’s Syndrome. This is similar to Alzheimers, and is characterised by short-term memory loss and confabulation (making things up).

Fortunately though, some of this damage can be prevented with proper nutrition, or more easily, with vitamin supplements. Common vitamins called antioxidants can help the brain deal with the effects of alcohol by limiting the damage to nerve cells. These include the vitamins A, C and E plus the mineral Selenium. The vitamin Thiamine (B1) is also essential in preventing the onset of Korsakoff’s. They are all available in most health stores.

Of course taking vitamins won’t eliminate the toxic effects of alcohol, so don’t think that by popping a whopper mega-vitamin tablet every day you can magically drink as much as you like. It doesn’t work like that. But you might just lessen the damage a little.

» Nutrition and Mental Health
» The role of antioxidants in health

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