There has always been suggestions that alcohol in moderation is good for your health but the latest theory is that a dose of alcohol could be a good treatment for people with head injuries.

The basis of this is the discovery that people are less likely to die following brain trauma if they have alcohol in their blood. The reason for this could be that alcohol dampens the body’s inflammatory response to injury. However doctors do stress that alcohol can create medical complications and is a contributory factor to many accidents.

Experts are warning that people should not interpret these findings as an excuse to drink more alcohol. These findings raise the possibility of administering ethanol to patients with brain injuries to potentially improve their outcome. The amount of alcohol consumed appears to be important factor as too little and there is no effect, too much and the beneficial effects are lost. With the right dose, alcohol stops the cascade of swelling, inflammation and further destruction of brain cells, known as secondary brain injury.

These findings seem to suggest that although alcohol helps one problem it creates another, so the question is if the benefits outway the risks?

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