Alcohol Abuse

glass-of-wineDrinking even “moderate” amounts of alcohol increases dementia risk.

Light to moderate alcohol consumption has generally been considered to have some health benefits, including possibly reducing risk of cognitive decline. However, two studies reported today at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® 2012 (AAIC®2012) in Vancouver suggest that moderate alcohol use in late-life, heavier use earlier in life, and “binge” drinking in late-life increase risk of cognitive decline.

“The many dangers of misuse of alcohol, and some of its possible benefits, have been widely reported, and there needs to be further clarification by the scientific community,” said William Thies, PhD, Alzheimer’s Association® chief medical and scientific officer. “Certainly no one should start drinking in order to reduce Alzheimer’s risk, as these two new reports attest.”

“We need to know more about what factors actually raise and lower risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. To do that, we need longer term studies in larger and more diverse populations, and we need more research funding to make that happen. We have learned incredible amounts about heart disease and stroke risk from long-term research like the Framingham Study – we have solidly proven lifestyle risk factors that people can act on every day. Alzheimer’s now needs its version of that research,” Thies added. [continue reading…]

By Steve Allsop, Curtin University
 

Young Australians are exposed to a range of risks from alcohol, both from drinking themselves and other people’s use. According to the most recent National Drug Strategy Household Survey:

  • A third of 14- to 19-year-olds drank at levels that put them at risk of injury at least once during the previous month;
  • Around 28% of 14- to 19-year-olds reported being victims of alcohol-related verbal abuse (and 13% were victims of alcohol-related physical abuse) in the previous 12 months.

 
Parents may believe they no longer influence their teen’s behaviour and the choices they make about using alcohol. But the evidence tells us that what parents do, how they communicate their expectations to their children and whether they supply alcohol does influence their children’s choices.

Reducing the risk of harm

The first question parents usually ask when considering this issue is, “what is a safe level of alcohol consumption for children?”.

Some suggest it’s best to introduce children to small amounts of alcohol in the presence of parents so that by the time they turn 18, they have learnt some drinking skills. But there’s no evidence to support this contention, and indeed there is emerging evidence that early parental supply of alcohol is associated with increased risks.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines emphasise there is no evidence to guide decisions about low-risk drinking among young people. The NHMRC concludes that for those under the age of 15, not drinking is important. And for those aged 15 to 17, the safest option is to not drink and to delay starting drinking.

Evidence has emerged over the past couple of years about the impact of alcohol on developing brains – most of this is based on animal studies but there are a handful of human studies as well. These studies identify physical changes in the brain and evidence of impaired problem solving and other cognitive functioning. This, in turn, might influence the ability of the child to reach their full educational capacity.

From a scientific point of view, the jury is still out about the extent of alcohol’s impact on growing brains. But as a parent, this risk of long-term harm has made me more conservative about my children’s access to alcohol.

After years of discussing alcohol and its effects with my children, I explained the evidence to them and indicated that for this reason, my advice was to avoid drinking for as long as possible. But I also pointed out that if they chose to ignore this advice, I wanted to know, and I preferred they only drank in my presence and only small amounts.

I made it clear to other parents that this was my expectation of my children and under no circumstances were they to provide them with alcohol.

How we use alcohol can be a powerful influence on our children. Sky noir

Your expectations matter

Australian children live in a world where alcohol is regularly promoted and consumed, so it’s useful for them to discuss alcohol from an early age and understand what their parents expect of them.

Parents can use media portrayal of alcohol use and related problems to start discussions that are general, rather than subjective and sensitive. The best time to start talking about risky alcohol use is before it happens, not at 2am when tempers are frayed.

Talk about how alcohol might affect them even if they don’t drink themselves. Rather than just telling them what concerns you, try to find out what they might be concerned about, such as how drinking may lead to behaviour they’ll later regret.

You could ask if they know of examples of this happening to others – either on television or in movies, or in their day-to-day lives. This can help you reach an agreement on your rules about drinking and explain the rationale for those rules.

As children get older, parents might expect that peer influence usurps their own. But parents have a critical role: know where your children are and who they are with, and be clear about your expectations (keeping in touch, time to come home, what will happen if they break the rules) and what to do if they get into difficulty.

Discuss how other people’s drinking might affect them and help them develop responses, such as how to cope with pressure to drink, how to defuse aggression and how to avoid getting in a car with someone who is intoxicated.

Sometimes their friends may have difficulty with alcohol – alcohol overdose is not uncommon – so it’s worth talking about how they can “look after their mates”, such as placing them in the recovery position and calling for help. Looking after your mates is a way of also learning how to look after yourself. And make sure your child also knows where to get further advice.

Your actions matter

If you decide to allow your child to drink some alcohol, be aware that the younger they commence risky drinking, the greater the downstream threats. Discuss how they can reduce risks by only drinking in the presence of responsible adults, never drinking more than one or two drinks or on an empty stomach, and never drinking and driving.

Think about your own behaviour: how we use alcohol can be a powerful influence on our children. And importantly, create a safe, loving and functional environment for your children. Teens who live in a secure family with good two-way communication have lower risk of alcohol-related harm.

Steve Allsop receives funding from ARC; NHMRC; Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing

The Conversation

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
Read the original article.

More research needed about home drinking

glass of alcohol

Image: iStockphoto

A leading expert on alcohol abuse has expressed concern about the lack of research about home drinking. Dr John Fosterfrom the University of Greenwich is the first UK researcher to review all the research available about the drinking of alcohol by adults at home.

The article titled Home Drinking in the UK: Trends and Causes by Dr John Foster at the University of Greenwich had been published in Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Dr Foster from the university’s School of Health & Social Care says: “An increasing amount of alcohol is now consumed in our homes especially among the over-30s. Home drinking is invisible and individuals have to set their own boundaries about acceptable levels of consumption and behaviour. Yet shockingly little research has been carried out on this important problem in our society.”

What research there is indicates that home drinking is often linked to increasing income, high income and higher social class. Those drinking at home do not tend to ‘binge drink’, though ‘pre-loading’, or drinking before going out for the evening, is related to heavy drinking and increasing risk-taking, especially in young people.

“It takes many years for the health consequences of change in behaviour to appear and the increase in drinking at home is likely to be associated with higher cancer rates and cardiac-related problems in the future. Increased research is essential so that policy makers have more information about why adults drink at home and in particular their awareness of the associated risks.”

His research shows that there have only been six articles published about home drinking by adults in the last 10 years. These show that there has been a steady increase in the consumption of beer away from pubs and bars since at least 1970. However, since 2000, this has accelerated: 83 per cent of all wine drunk is consumed at home, according to figures from the British Beer & Pub Association (2006). Most of this alcohol is bought from large supermarkets. A recent internet survey found that only 11 per cent agreed that higher prices in supermarkets would make them use pubs and bars more.

In addition to this review Dr Foster has published work in the Journal of Public Health that indicates the reasons people drink revolve around cost, convenience and relaxation, and that the long term health risks are at best underplayed and at worst ignored.

John H. Foster and Colin S. Ferguson, Home Drinking in the UK: Trends and Causes, Alcohol and Alcoholism (2012), February 27, doi: 10.1093/alcalc/ags020, http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/27/alcalc.ags020.abstract?sid=0bb819f6-f4b0-48fa-a5bd-99e4388a1045

young people drinking alcohol

Nearly two in three youngsters underestimated the unit content of their drinks
Image: istockphoto

Anew University of Sussex-led study reveals that many young people do not have the knowledge or skills to keep their drinking within guidelines on sensible consumption.

According to research led by Dr Richard de Visser, a senior lecturer in psychology at Sussex, young people are highly likely to underestimate their own consumption of alcohol units, even if they have some knowledge of government guidelines.

The study, which is published in Drug and Alcohol Review, involved surveying 18 to 25-year-olds about their knowledge and beliefs about safe drinking. The participants were then asked to pour their “usual” measure of a drink (wine, beer or vodka), followed by what they believed to be a “unit” of that particular drink.

The researchers found that the “usual” drinks were substantially larger than one unit, as set by government guidelines, with nearly two thirds of participants underestimating the unit content of the drinks they had poured.

In the survey, which tested knowledge of the government’s guidelines about alcohol consumption, fewer than half the respondents gave correct responses to five of the seven questions, although most were able to correctly state the recommended daily units for men and women.

“Our results indicate that young people tend not to possess the knowledge and or skills required to drink alcohol in accordance with government guidelines,” says Dr De Visser. “Using drink-pouring tasks as part of this education could promote better understanding of alcohol units and more accurate reporting of alcohol consumption.”

However, he acknowledges that the success of getting the message across to young drinkers depends on how motivated they are to take in the information.

“Many other studies have shown that young people are less concerned about the health issues of drinking and more interested in the pleasure it gives them. Moderation and restraint runs counter to the contemporary cultural emphasis of excessive and conspicuous consumption.”

Source: University of Sussex
Further reading: The UK government’s guideline for “sensible drinking”