<I don't think there are any downsides if you have the character to drink it
in moderation, and if you don't mind loosing your braincells at a greater
rate than usual>

my point is I wish to challenge this oft-quoted but seldom thought-out
position.  brain cell depletion may arise from several functions including
oxidation, calcium influx, other kinds of excitotoxicty, and nutritional
deprivation.

many alcoholics cetainly show the last. but they should eat more, and not
drink INSTEAD of eating.

are the other factors unique to alcohol? certainly not. the brain uses
alcohol for fuel preferentially even over glucose.  So we need more evidence
that there is a unique link. If someone can supply it I'm happy to agree
with it.

andrew



 and if you don't mind lowering your mental clarity. I
> don't think I have the willpower to drink alcoholic beverages in
> moderation. I'm not going to take any risks. My father became addicted.
> Futher, I don't want to increase the loss of my brainscells and I want to
> be as lucid as possible. (I just used, for fun, the logical structure of
> your proposition in the first message on this thread, to justify refined
> sugar, which I believe is poison. I guess that wasn't funny. Sorry.)