Alcohol acts as a poison, leading to cellular stress and damage, particularly affecting the gut microbiome and brain function.

Regular alcohol consumption can lead to inflammation in the brain and body, increasing the desire to drink more and exacerbating health issues.

Alcohol consumption affects our biology, impacting individual cells, organs, and organ systems in the brain and body.

Low to moderate alcohol consumption may still negatively impact brain health, potentially causing neurodegeneration.

Regular drinking alters the neural circuits that control habitual and impulsive behavior, making individuals more impulsive even when not drinking.

People who drink regularly experience increased cortisol levels at baseline, leading to heightened stress and anxiety when not drinking.

Both light and moderate alcohol consumption can reduce brain thickness, indicating negative effects on brain health, and there's a dose-dependent increase in the shrinkage of gray matter and white matter tracts in the brain as a function of alcohol consumption.

Chronic drinking, even if not daily, can lead to a decrease in top-down inhibition, resulting in heightened impulsivity and habitual behavior.

Heavy alcohol use can lead to brain damage, with ethanol causing inflammation and nutritional deficiencies that accelerate deterioration.