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Moderate alcohol consumption kills brain cells
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
A few glasses a day are not considered a crime, and on the contrary, many healthy lifestyle programs and articles say that small doses of red wine are a great way to maintain cardiovascular health and activate brain processes. However, scientists from Rutgers University think differently and believe that there is a very fine line between moderate alcohol consumption and drunkenness, which is very easy to cross.
Research by experts suggests that regular consumption of even small doses of alcohol can negatively impact the structural integrity of the adult brain.
“A moderate but regular habit of drinking after work or on weekends can lead to addiction without a person even realizing it,” said lead author Megan Anderson. “In the short term, this can lead to subtle impairments in motor skills or general problems with the body’s functioning, and in the long term, it can lead to cognitive impairment – a decrease in the ability to remember and learn.”
The experts conducted a study on rodents. They administered a dose of alcohol to the animals that did not exceed the permissible amount of alcohol for drivers of motor vehicles and found that even such a small dose had a negative effect on brain cells.
The researchers found that this level of intoxication in rats was comparable to about three to four drinks for women and five drinks for men. In humans, the number of nerve cells in the brain's hippocampus dropped by nearly 40 percent. The hippocampus is the part of the brain where new neurons are produced and is also responsible for acquiring some types of new knowledge.
This level of alcohol was not enough to impair motor skills in rats. However, Dr. Anderson says that the significant reduction in brain cells over time could have profound effects on the structural plasticity of the adult brain because these new cells interact with other neurons in the brain to regulate a person's overall health.
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