Alcohol Effects

Relatives of People with Alcohol Use Disorder Experience Similar Cognitive Weaknesses

Many people with a family history of alcohol use disorder (AUD) struggle with certain cognition issues that often accompany AUD itself, even if they don’t themselves drink dangerously, according to a novel study. The findings suggest that these issues may be markers of vulnerability for the condition. A family history of AUD—having one or more first-degree relatives with the disorder—increases the risk of developing it, owing to genetic and environmental factors.

Continue reading

Alcohol Abuse Can Accelerate Aging, Study Finds

The brains and blood of people with a history of excessive drinking show cellular evidence of premature aging. DNA taken from people with alcohol use disorder showed signs of changes in genetic regions indicative of increased biological age. Accelerated biological aging may help explain why excessive alcohol use has been shown to be a significant risk factor for premature death and neurodegenerative diseases.

Continue reading

Bariatric Surgery Can Lead to Alcohol Abuse

Among patients who underwent bariatric surgery, there was a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders in the second year after surgery, and specifically after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, compared with the years immediately before and following surgery, according to a study in JAMA.

Continue reading

How Alcohol Interferes With Sleep

Large amounts of alcohol are known to shorten sleep latency, increase slow-wave sleep, and suppress rapid eye movement (REM) during the first half of sleep. During the second half of sleep, REM increases and sleep becomes shallower. A study of the acute effects of alcohol on the relationship between sleep and heart rate variability (HRV) during sleep has found that alcohol interferes with the restorative functions of sleep.

Continue reading

Brain Damage Seen in Young Binge-Drinkers

It's considered a rite of passage among young people – acting out their independence through heavy, episodic drinking. But a new University of Cincinnati study, the first of its kind nationally, is showing how binge drinking among adolescents and young adults could be causing serious damage to a brain that's still under development at this age.

Continue reading

Alcohol's Damaging Effects on the Brain

While alcohol has a wide range of pharmacological effects on the body, the brain is a primary target. However, the molecular mechanisms by which alcohol alters neuronal activity in the brain are poorly understood. Participants in a symposium at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in San Antonio, Texas addressed recent findings concerning the interactions of alcohol with prototype brain proteins thought to underlie alcohol actions in the brain.

Continue reading

Alcohol Greatly Increases Serious Injury Risk

Researchers know that alcohol impairs coordination and the ability to perceive and respond to hazards, and that hangovers impair neurocognitive performance and psychomotor vigilance. This study closely examined alcohol-related injuries admitted to hospital, finding that alcohol greatly increases risk for serious injury.

Continue reading

Routinely Drinking Alcohol May Raise Blood Pressure Even in Adults Without Hypertension

Even in adults without hypertension, blood pressure readings may climb more steeply over the years as the number of daily alcoholic drinks rise, according to an analysis of seven international research studies published in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal. With the statistical power of seven international research studies, this analysis confirms for the first time there was a continuous increase in blood pressure measures in both participants with low and high alcohol intake. Even low levels of alcohol consumption were associated with detectable increases in blood pressure levels that may lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular events.

Continue reading

Alcohol Can Increase Risk of Atrial Fibrillation

A review of research studies indicate that alcohol consumption can increase the risk for developing atrial fibrillation. Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). Its name comes from the fibrillating (i.e., quivering) of the heart muscles of the atria, instead of a coordinated contraction.

Continue reading

Alcohol Damages Much More Than the Liver

Alcohol does much more harm to the body than just damaging the liver. Drinking also can weaken the immune system, slow healing, impair bone formation, increase the risk of HIV transmission and hinder recovery from burns, trauma, bleeding and surgery.

Continue reading


Page top