Demonstrator,epartment of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India.

Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India.

Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India
Alcohol ,Cognition ,Dementia ,Alcohol related brain damage ,

Drawing a line between sensible drinking and harmful drinking has always been tricky. There are as many articles on the benefits of regular alcohol consumption as they are on its adverse effects on a person’s health when taken in large amounts. It’s a irony that regular alcohol intake in small amounts is said to prevent memory loss in adulthood and the same alcohol when consumed regularly in large amounts damages a person’s brain to such an extent that he is unable to perform his day to day activities. Alcohol related brain damage or ARBD is produced by damage to the brain cells caused either directly by ethanol or indirectly by conditions such as Vitamin B-complex deficiency due to malnutrition associated with heavy alcohol intake which in turn leads to Wernicke-Koraskoff's syndrome, pellagrous encephalopathy, liver failure and cerebrovascular disease. It is believed that dementia related to excessive alcohol intake accounts for approximately 10% of all dementias caused by various pathological states.

4 , 1 , 2014