Associations between alcohol intake and brain volumes in male and female moderate drinkers

BACKGROUND: Alcohol-dependent individuals have brain volume loss. Possibly, moderate drinkers who are not alcohol dependent have similar but less prominent brain damage. The authors investigated whether current or lifetime alcohol intake is related to volumes of total brain, cerebellum, ventricles, peripheral cerebrospinal fluid, and cerebral gray and white matter in moderate drinkers. METHODS: The relation between current or lifetime alcohol intake and brain volumes of 47 male moderate drinkers (current alcohol intake 20 drinks per week, lifetime alcohol intake 240 kg) and 44 female moderate drinkers (current alcohol intake 15 drinks per week, lifetime alcohol intake 170 kg), all without a personal or family history of alcohol dependence, was determined using high-resolution magnetic resonance images, corrected for intracranial volume, age, and sex. RESULTS: In males, mean lifetime alcohol intake was positively associated with cerebral white matter volume, particularly in the frontal region. In females, mean lifetime alcohol intake was not associated with brain volumes. Current alcohol intake was unrelated to brain volumes in either males or females. CONCLUSIONS: Neither current nor lifetime alcohol intake is associated with decreases in brain volumes in male or female moderate drinkers. Because all participants had a negative personal and family history of alcohol dependence, the current results relatively purely concern the effects of moderate alcohol intake on brain volumes.