Ethanol is sinister.
From LEF magazine:
"rats fed a liquid diet containing moderate amounts of ethanol for six weeks had a 66.3% decrease in the number of new neurons and a 227-279% increase in cell death in the dentate gyrus as compared to rats fed an alcohol free diet. The dentate gyrus is part of the brains hippocampus, an integral part of our memory systems"
This can be prevented by supplementing with antioxidants.
Full Study:
http://www.pnas.org/...ull/100/13/7919Selective impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis by chronic alcoholism: Protective effects of an antioxidant
Daniel G. Herrera * {dagger} {ddagger}, Almudena G. Yagüe {dagger} §, Siv Johnsen-Soriano ¶, Francisco Bosch-Morell ¶, Lucía Collado-Morente *, Maria Muriach ¶, Francisco J. Romero ¶ and J. Manuel García-Verdugo §
*Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10021; §Department of Cell Biology, University of Valencia, Burjassot, 46100 Valencia, Spain; and ¶Department of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Toxicology, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-Centro de Estudios Universitarios, Edificio Seminario s/n 46113 Moncada, Spain