Almost everyone knows someone who has a problem with alcohol. Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are the most common substance use disorders across the United States, and they have a multitude of social and personal effects. In Dr. Jessica Hoffman’s talk titled “Alcohol, Plasticity, & Brain Vulnerability,” she explained that over 29.5 million, or nearly ten percent, of Americans have diagnosed AUDs, and more are likely undiagnosed. With such a widespread problem, research is absolutely necessary to assess risks and harm that could come from consuming alcohol. While many know the negative impact alcohol has on organs such as the liver, the neurological effects are often overlooked. In both Dr. Jessica Hoffman’s talk and in the article titled “Eight or more drinks per week linked to signs of injury in the brain” from the American Academy of Neurology, alcohol consumption has been linked to detrimental effects on learning and memory and an increased risk of neurological degradation in the form of blood clots and tau tangles.
In the article, “Eight or more drinks per week linked to signs of injury in the brain,” analysis of 1,781 people’s brains was compared with their reported drinking habits in life. Heavy drinkers, those who drank 8 or more alcoholic beverages per week, were 133% more likely to have brain lesions after adjusting for other risk factors. Heavy drinkers were also 41% more likely to have tau tangles, a key element in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Lesions often result from hyaline arteriolosclerosis, a condition that damages and stiffens blood vessels in the brain. These lesions are prone to causing cognitive decline and a loss of learning and memory function. Tau tangles, in their relation to Alzheimer’s, also seem to contribute heavily to memory decline. Former heavy drinkers, those who stopped drinking nearing their time of death, had impaired cognitive abilities. Though not as prevalent as the heavy drinkers, former heavy drinkers had increased odds of having lesions and tau tangles. This suggests that high alcohol consumption, even if cut out, may still affect brain function years later.
Dr. Jessica Hoffman’s research on the cross-section between Alzheimer’s development and alcohol in mice specifically studies how drinking can speed up the onset of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is primarily linked to the build up of two key proteins, amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Although mice do not naturally develop Alzheimer’s disease, by using 3xtg mice and injecting human tau into mice brains, the researchers were able to compare the concentration of tau between mice who passively consumed alcohol and mice who did not. The 3xtg mice who drank alcohol scored consistently lower on various memory tests than their non-drinking peers and showed total tau and amyloid levels which suggests a more rapid onset of Alzheimer's-like symptoms. In the mice with injected human tau, those who consumed alcohol had significantly more phosphorylated tau, the damaging version of tau, than the non-alcohol group.
Both of these studies demonstrate the neurological damage of drinking, particularly heavy drinking patterns. The article suggests that Dr. Hoffman’s observations of more rapid onset of neurological disease in alcohol-consuming mice models might also be true about alcohol consumption in humans. As the most common recreational drug, alcohol is not often thought of as a contributor to cognitive decline. However, both mouse models and human brain analysis has shown that these two factors are heavily linked. The adverse effects of alcohol seem to reduce the efficacy of memory systems even when alcohol consumption in the mice was relatively low. Perhaps alcohol itself is not as safe for our brains as we thought, especially as we grow and age.
Sources:
Eight or more drinks per week linked to signs of injury in the brain. (2025). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250409173113.htm
Hoffman, J. L., Faccidomo, S., Saunders, B. L., Taylor, S. M., Kim, M., & Hodge, C. W. (2021). Inhibition of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) containing transmembrane AMPAR regulatory protein γ-8 with JNJ-55511118 shows preclinical efficacy in reducing chronic repetitive alcohol self-administration. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 45(7), 1424–1435. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.14639
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