Uni-Heidelberg.de – Just one drink can quickly go to your head. Researchers in Heidelberg tested this well-known adage. Only six minutes after consuming an amount of alcohol (ethanol) equivalent to three glasses of beer or two glasses of wine, leading to a blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.06 percent, changes have already taken place [...]

Someone who has a low level of response (LR) to alcohol, meaning relatively little reaction to alcohol, has a higher risk for developing alcoholism and alcohol-use disorders (AUDs). A study that examined the influence of LR in conjunction with other characteristics – like family history of AUDs and age of drinking onset – has found [...]

JAMA / Archives – Many people who have had problems with depression and alcohol have been attracted to the controversial “self-medication” hypothesis – that is, the idea that some people start to drink to temporarily relieve depressive symptoms. Now a new carefully designed study suggests that the opposite may be true. A statistical modeling study [...]

InterScience.Wiley.com – Animal research has shown that binge drinking – even just once – during early pregnancy can cause numerous problems for the fetus, including early postnatal death. Fetal zinc deficiency may explain some of the birth defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities associated with alcohol exposure. New rodent findings are the first to show that dietary [...]

One part of the baby’s brain before birth that may be particularly sensitive to alcohol’s effects is white matter – nerve fibers through which information is exchanged between different areas of the central nervous system. A recent study has demonstrated that alcohol consumption during pregnancy can alter the microstructural integrity of developing fetal cerebral white [...]

Duke.edu – People who began drinking and using marijuana regularly prior to their 15th birthday face a higher risk of early pregnancy, as well as a pattern of school failure, substance dependence, sexually-transmitted disease and criminal convictions that lasts into their 30s. A study published online by the journal Psychological Science has been able to [...]