Alcohol and brain damage

1. The safe limits of alcohol intake are difficult to define because of individual variations in susceptibility to damage. The present recommendations are based largely on epidemiological studies of liver damage. 2. Recent investigations indicate that alcoholic brain damage is much more common than previously suspected. More information is required about its natural history and the characteristics of individuals most likely to suffer damage. 3. Thiamin (vitamin B1) deficiency has long been associated with brain damage and may result from a number of additive causes in the alcoholic patient. New information indicating damage to the protein moeity of some of the thiamin-using enzymes has been reviewed, as have possible mechanisms of brain cell necrosis.