Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/fM3zWSu7ZAA Alcohol abuse is rampant in teens and young adults, and hospitals are reporting an epidemic of premature chronic liver disease and failure in millenials.  A new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics now shows that binge drinking prevents development of normal connections in the developing brain’s amygdala.  That’s the region of the brain responsible for emotion, fever, and anxiety. The Chicago research group studied the brains of drinkers who began binge drinking before they reached 21 years.  They compared them to drinkers who started after 21 and to non-drinkers.  All subjects died in their mid to late fifties.   The early onset drinkers had a 30 to 40% deficit of the molecule BDNF in their amygdalas, and without this chemical normal brain connections fail to form leading to increased anxiety and then  likely to more drinking through life. With each new study, we learn how important health behaviors during our chil