Washington, June 28 : A study has shown how binge drinking among adolescents and young adults can cause serious damage to a brain that is still under development.

The University of Cincinnati study was carried out by researcher Tim McQueeny, a doctoral student in the UC Department of Psychology.

High-resolution brain scans on a sample of 29 weekend binge drinkers, aged 18 to 25, found that binge-drinking was linked to cortical-thinning of the pre-frontal cortex, the section of the brain related to executive functioning such as paying attention, planning and making decisions, processing emotions and controlling impulses leading to irrational behaviour.

McQueeny examined the brain's gray matter, the parts of brain cells that do the thinking, receiving and transmitting of messages.

"We have seen evidence that binge drinking is associated with reduced integrity in the white matter, the brain's highways that communicate neuron messaging, but alcohol may affect the gray matter differently than the white matter," he said.

The pilot study examined whether the researchers could see a relationship between gray matter thickness and binge drinking among college-aged young adults.

They found that greater number of drinks per binge is associated with cortical thinning.

"Alcohol might be neurotoxic to the neuron cells, or, since the brain is developing in one's 20s, it could be interacting with developmental factors and possibly altering the ways in which the brain is still growing," he said.

McQueeny adds that the depressant effects of alcohol emerge later in life, so for young adults, the effect of alcohol can be very stimulating and activate tolerance over time. (ANI)