Findings from the study appear online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. Scientists have long known that moderate drinking offered some health benefits, including protection against heart disease, certain types of stroke and some forms of cancer. But now they say that people that stop drinking, even moderate drinking, run the risk of developing depression and a reduced capacity of the brain to produce new neurons, a process called neurogenesis.
"Our research in an animal model establishes a causal link between abstinence from alcohol drinking and depression," study senior author Dr. Clyde W. Hodge, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology in the UNC School of Medicine, said in a statement.
"In mice that voluntarily drank alcohol for 28 days, depression-like behavior was evident 14 days after termination of alcohol drinking. This suggests that people who stop drinking may experience negative mood states days or weeks after the alcohol has cleared their systems."
Researchers say that the new research shows that the ability to make neurons can be restored in someone who stops drinking if they are given antidepressants during 14 days of abstinence from alcohol.
