Are heavy drinkers smarter than those who don’t drink?

We'd like to think so.

Jerry McClure

Laura Lazarescow and Matt Sea pour the beers for the finishers at the Tap N Run 4K run at Sandbar Cantina on March 9, 2013 in Deep Ellum.

A new study released in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that long-term consumption of alcohol can boost the brain’s ability to produce acetate, a by product of alcohol metabolism.

What does this mean, exactly? Heavy drinkers are, scientifically, smarter than those who don’t hit the bottle that often.

The study claims that while the brain normally runs on sugar, when forced to process acetate after heavy alcohol consumption, the brain uses the acetate for energy purposes. The researchers found that heavy drinkers have the ability to burn the alternative source of energy twice as fast as the light-drinking counterparts.

Read the full report here.

Speaking of drinking, check out party picks of the Tap 'N' Run 4K, where costumed participants in Deep Ellum ran and chugged, beer Olympics style.