Study links drinking, brain size

Excerpts from the Globe's blog on the Boston-area medical community.

Moderate alcohol consumption might be good for your heart, but it doesn't appear to protect your brain.

Researchers from Wellesley College and Boston University examined MRIs and surveys about drinking from more than 1,800 people in the Framingham Offspring Study. They report in the Archives of Neurology that the more alcohol that a person consumed, the smaller their total brain volume. The association was stronger in women than men, even though women tend to drink less than men.

Brain volume, which decreases with age, is linked to the progression of dementia and trouble with learning, memory, and cognition.

"The public health effect of this study gives a clear message about the possible dangers of drinking alcohol," the authors write. "This study suggests that . . . alcohol consumption does not have any protective effect on brain volume."

Helping smokers quit while they're in the hospital, and continuing to counsel them after they go home, has the best chance of success, a review of published studies concludes.

A team led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital analyzed results from 33 clinical trials conducted in nine countries from 1999 to 2007 to see what kind of hospital-sponsored stop-smoking program works. Patients who received the most intense behavioral counseling during their hospitals stays followed by at least a month more of counseling did better, according to their study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Their odds of still not smoking six to 12 months later were 65 percent greater compared to patients who received counseling only while they were in the hospital.

"When people go home from the hospital, they are at high risk. Going back to usual cues of smoking - that's where the danger is, even when they have good intentions," lead author Dr. Nancy A. Rigotti said in an interview.

The chairman of a government panel charged with assessing the safety of bisphenol A - the ubiquitous chemical found in hard, clear plastic bottles - received a substantial donation from a retired medical supply manufacturer who believes BPA is "perfectly safe," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported over the weekend. US Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, called for an investigation.

According to the Journal Sentinel story, Charles Gelman gave $5 million to the University of Michigan Risk Science Center, whose founder and co-director is Dr. Martin Philbert. Philbert heads the FDA panel that is reviewing BPA.

Philbert did not disclose the donation to the FDA, the story said. He denies discussing BPA with Gelman, but Gelman, a retired manufacturer of syringes and medical filtration devices, told the Journal Sentinel they had "several conversations" about it.

Gelman has called concerns about BPA, which is found in baby bottles and food containers, exaggerations made by "mothers' groups and others who don't know the science," the Journal Sentinel said.

Markey, whose House Energy and Commerce Committee oversees the FDA, has filed legislation to ban the use of BPA in food and beverage containers.

- ELIZABETH COONEY