KEY POINTS:
Getting "rolling drunk" may have more to do with muscle damage than alcohol's effect on the brain, an academic claims.
Dr Simon Worrall, from the University of Queensland's School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, has told a health symposium in Perth that alcohol abuse not only affects the liver and brain, but also the heart and other muscles.
Dr Worrall said while the impact of alcohol on the liver and brain had been thoroughly examined by researchers over many decades, attention was turning to what it does to muscles.
"People talk about rolling drunks - what is being said now from the research is it's not just the effect on the brain, it's the effect on the muscles that is concerning," Dr Worrall said.
"More alcoholics have damage to their skeletal muscles than to their liver or brain. So if you have problems with walking, it may not simply be because you are drunk, but because you have weakening of the skeletal muscles, which makes you more prone to tripping or falling. The muscles don't work in the same way that the brain remembered they should."
Dr Worrall said the jury was still out on whether one drink could do a small amount of damage to muscle, or whether there was a threshold at which certain levels of drinking started to do damage.
He said researchers were now looking at protective mechanisms, such as improving the diet of drinkers.
Eating a variety of foods containing antioxidants could strengthen the heart and other muscles, he said.
But health experts believe every drink can damage the body.
Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council is currently seeking feedback on new alcohol use guidelines, recommending no more than two standard drinks a day and one or two dry days a week.
- AAP
