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Warning over booze link to brain damage
ABC News, 6/8/07
Warning: Six drinks a day can be enough to give men brain damage (Reuters: David Gray)
The Alcohol Related Brain Injury Australian Services (ARBIAS) says 2 million Australians are at risk of brain damage because of the large amounts of alcohol they are consuming.
ARBIAS chief executive Sonia Berton says people are not aware that just three alcoholic drinks a day can cause irreparable brain damage. It has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the condition, saying people are not aware how to diagnose the problem or how to prevent it.
“The levels of alcohol that will place you at risk of alcohol-related brain damage is around three standard drinks per day for a female, and for men it’s around six standard drinks per day, for an eight-year period,” he said.
“For many Australians, this is considered to be no more than social drinking.”
Ms Berton says 700 people were surveyed and many did not know that drinking between three and six standard drinks a day for up to 10 years could cause brain injury.
Ms Berton says there are many misconceptions about the problem.
“The ‘Hangover for Life’ campaign is about educating Australians in the area of alcohol-related brain damage,” she said.
“It was clear from the results of the Roy Morgan survey that many Australians don’t know the early warning signs to look out for, the symptoms to look out for and really how to prevent what is essentially a preventable disability. “
“Close to 90 per cent of Australians don’t know the figure of people that are at risk, close to 70 per cent of males did not know what levels of alcohol consumption actually placed them at risk of alcohol-elated brain damage, close to 60 per cent of females do not know the levels of alcohol consumption that place them at risk.”
Neuropsychologist Martin Jackson says the number of people risking serious injury is frightening. “One in two young Australians are drinking on a binge basis at potentially hazardous level,” he said.
“This is a horrific figure – one in two, and there’s also evidence coming out that even a single occasion binge drink can at least cause temporary brain injury.”
