What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health | Episode 86
Main Takeaways
Alcohol is both water and fat-soluble, allowing it to pass through all cells and tissues in the body, including the blood-brain barrier.
There are three types of alcohol: isopropyl, methyl, and ethyl/ethanol, with only ethyl/ethanol being fit for human consumption, although it is still toxic.
Alcohol is metabolized in the liver, with ethanol being converted to acetyl aldehyde and then to acetate.
Alcohol is energetically costly to break down, containing no nutritive value, and is considered empty calories.
Drinking alcohol causes a poison-induced disruption in neural circuitry caused by acetyl aldehyde being metabolized in the liver.
High levels of alcohol consumption cause the degeneration of neurons, specifically the neocortex, while low to moderate consumption is linked to thinning of the neocortex.
Alcohol consumption changes the neural circuitry of the prefrontal cortex even when not drinking, with the effect lasting in chronic substance abusers.
Alcohol has a strong effect in suppressing the neural networks of memory formation and storage, causing people to forget what happened while drinking.
The genes modified by chronic drinking fall along pathways related to the control of serotonin receptors, GABA receptors, and hypothalamic-pituitary axis.
Alcohol disrupts the gut microbiome by killing bacteria and healthy gut microbiota, ultimately causing leaky gut, and causes inflammation in the brain and body, leading to the desire to drink more.
