Long-term alcohol abuse can result in significant damage to the brain, a new study shows. Researchers report that the extent of injury to the brain can be determined by measuring cortical thickness. The more people drink, they noted, the worse the damage. “We now know that alcohol has wide ranging effects across the entire cortex and in structures of the brain that contribute to a wide range of psychological abilities and intellectual functions,” study corresponding author Catherine Brawn Fortier, a neuropsychologist and researcher at the VA Boston Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School, said in a Harvard news release.
