Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Warning over early exposure to alcohol

Giving children alcohol at an early age increases their risk of becoming drink-dependent at a later stage in life, according to new research.
The claim challenges the long-held notion that introducing children to alcohol in small measures over time may prevent teenage binge drinking.

The new study, by the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), suggests that parents may have got it wrong. It found that if young people have their first taste of alcohol before the age of 15, it sharply raises their risk of becoming alcohol dependent later in life.

Deborah Lawson, a research scientist at the NIAAA, said: “We can see for the first time the association between an early ‘age of first drink’ and an increased risk of alcohol disorders that persist into adulthood.”

The study involved data gathered from more than 22,000 young Americans over three years, which matched the age when a first alcoholic drink was taken with first incidence of alcohol abuse or dependence.

The NIAAA’s associate director, Howard Moss, said the study showed that it was important to delay the onset of drinking behaviour for as long as possible.

The findings have emerged amid concern over the level of binge drinking among teenagers in Britain. In Scotland, a recent survey of 13-year-olds found 20% had had a drink in the previous week. Among 15-year-olds, 40% of boys and 46% of girls said they had had an alcoholic drink in the past week.

Until now, it has been argued that exposing young teenagers to alcohol by giving them watered-down drinks is the best way them to educate them to consume alcohol responsibly.

But the NIAAA study suggests early exposure to alcohol even in small quantities is a risk in itself. It means that giving children alcohol to prevent problems may have the opposite effect.

One theory is that teenagers’ brains are developing so fast that exposure to intoxicants can create a link between alcohol consumption and pleasure.

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at University College London, said: “The young brain is very malleable and changes fast in response to new influences.”
____________
source: Scotland On Sunday

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Children and alcohol: even France is no longer immune

While Britain tries a new approach to curb underage drinking, teenage binges are on the rise across the Channel If there is one country that might be expected to greet the chief medical officer’s words on not mixing children and alcohol with a loud cough and splutter, it is France. In the land of rolling….

Teenage drug addiction

MEET MRINAL from Kanpur. He is 16 years old and has already been to a rehabilitation centre. He started drinking and smoking since he was 13. Meet Manoj and Vijay from Delhi, aged 17. They are famous among their group for throwing big parties with unlimited flow of alcohol and marijuana. These characters have not….

Easier transplant rules for alcoholics

Alcoholics who do not show they can stay sober outside hospital are expected to be offered liver transplants for the first time next month. A group of experts in liver disease will propose the change despite a shortage of organs. Under current guidelines, candidates for new livers have to show they can abstain from drink,….

Drinking Makes You Dumber?

A new study shows that binge drinking may have far more significant effects than merely a bad hangover the next day. Researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, reported that binge drinking can affect the brain in similar ways that are seen in chronic alcohol abusers. Binge drinking is defined in….

Effects of binge drinking linger

Heavy drinking adversely affects a person’s performance and perception hours after alcohol has left the body, researchers in Rhode Island said. Researchers at Brown University recruited 95 healthy adults ages 21 to 35 who had reported having a hangover at least one time within the month before the research began. The participants were randomly assigned….