Drinking large amounts of alcohol at a young age can have serious consequences. Researchers in Chicago have found that binge drinking before the age of 21 can result in permanent changes in the area of the brain responsible for emotions. Anxiety, addiction, and other emotional problems are the most likely consequences.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have found that high alcohol consumption at a young age causes harmful changes in the amygdala – a region of the brain in the temporal lobe that is involved in the processing of emotions, including fear. The changes in question are the so-called epigenetic changes, i.e. modifications taking place in cells that affect the activity of genes. They occur through normal development, but they can also be caused by external factors, such as alcohol.
Researchers examined the posthumous amygdala of people who started binge drinking before the age of 21, and later, and those who did not drink. The average age of death for these people was 58 for abstainers, 55 for drinkers from adolescence, and 59 for those who started drinking only in adulthood.
It turned out that drinking large amounts of alcohol from a young age caused epigenetic changes in the neurons of the amygdala, resulting in 30-40 percent. reducing the amount of the BDNF protein that is essential for brain function. There were no such changes in the brains of people who started drinking later in life.
– BDNF is needed for normal brain development and the formation of connections between neurons. If alcohol levels are lowered, the brain will not develop normally, as can be seen in the samples we tested. There may be incorrect connections between neurons – explains Prof. Subhash Pandey, who participated in the research.
The noticed changes may have an impact on the later life of drinkers in their youth.
«The epigenetic modifications we have observed in the amygdala in those who drank from an early age can change how it works, and it regulates our emotions. For this reason, these people may be more prone to developing various abnormal states, such as anxiety, as we have already shown in other studies. Alcohol dependence may also develop and persist »- warns prof. Pandey.
The harmful effects of drinking alcohol in youth have been described by scientists in the medical journal “Translational Psychiatry”.