Effects of Moderate Alcohol Intake on Problem-Solving Ability among Young People in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)

Background: The effects of excessive alcohol intake are well documented and are harmful to cognitive performance and cause social problems. When it comes to moderate alcohol intake, the conclusions are different depending on authors and methods used. Studies aimed at understanding these effects are few in Africa and basically in Côte d’Ivoire, where a large proportion of the young population regularly drink alcohol. The purpose of this research work was to investigate the effect of a low-dose alcohol intake on the ability to solve a Hanoi Tower-type problem. To do this, 112 young people in school, with ages ranging from 18 to 24, were subjected to the Tower of Hanoi test, after either consuming alcohol (to reach blood alcohol content of 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 g/l) or not (blood alcohol content of 0.0). Material/Methods: To do this, 56 young male students, with ages ranging from 18 to 33, were subjected to the Tower of Hanoi test, after either consuming alcohol (to reach blood alcohol content of 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 g/l) or not (blood alcohol content of 0.0). Results: When group comparisons are made, it can be seen that individuals in group E1 (BAC 0.2 g/l) performed better than the others in all four tests. Individuals in group T and group E2 performed the worst in tests 2 and 3 respectively. Comparisons between categories show that, at BAC levels below 0.5 g/l, CO individuals outperformed CR individuals in all four tests. However, at BAC levels of 0.5 g/l and above, CR individuals outperformed CO individuals. Conclusion: The data showed that low alcohol intake (0.2 g/l) increased problem-solving ability, through improved planning, probably due to a reduction in the effects of stress. Data also showed that regular alcohol drinkers were more able to withstand the acute harmful effects of alcohol when their blood alcohol content was above 0.5 g/l.