ScienceDaily for January 13, 2011 reported on the mixing of sports drinks and alcohol.
But a new study led by researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University has found that the addition of caffeine to alcohol -- mixing an energy drink with vodka, for example -- has no effect on enhancing performance on a driving test or improving sustained attention or reaction times.
ScienceDaily for January 11, 2011 reported on alcohol and cognitive impairment.
Previous research regarding the association between alcohol consumption and dementia or cognitive impairment in later life suggests that mild to moderate alcohol consumption might be protective of dementia. However, most of the research has been conducted on subjects already rather elderly at the start of the follow-up.
ScienceDaily for December 18, 2010 reported on alcohol and digestion.
People can be reassured that while alcohol may slow down digestion after a rich calorific meal, enjoyed by many during the Christmas season, it will not cause indigestion symptoms such as heartburn, belching and bloating, finds research in the Christmas issue published in the British Medical Journal.
ScienceDaily for November 1, 2010 reported on alcohol as a drug.
Overall, MCDA modelling showed alcohol was the most harmful drug (overall harm score 72), with heroin (55) and crack (54) in second and third places. Heroin, crack, and crystal meth were the most harmful drugs to the individual, whereas alcohol, heroin, and crack were the most harmful to others. The other drugs assessed followed in this order in terms of overall harm: Crystal meth (33), cocaine (27), tobacco (26), amphetamine/speed (23), cannabis (20), GHB (18), benzodiazepines (eg valium) (15), ketamine (also 15), methadone (14), mephedrone (13), butane (10), khat (9), ecstacy (9), anabolic steroids (9), LSD (7), buprenorphine (6), mushrooms (5).
ScienceDaily for October 20, 2010 reported on the effect of alcohol on reaction times and decision making.
According to Beth Anderson, a postdoctoral fellow at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Centre at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and lead author of the paper, this research is only the first step in a much larger process."Alcohol is widely consumed in our society today. We know it alters behavior, but surprisingly it is not well studied at the brain level. Once we understand how it is altering the brain, we can better inform the public of the consequences of drinking alcohol."
ScienceDaily for October 20, 2010 reported on alcohol and adolescents.
Alcohol, to an adolescent, is often seen as a rite of passage. Many teenagers view alcohol (as well as other drugs) as a gateway to adulthood, but are often blissfully unaware of the damage that it can cause to their bodies. A new study of the effects of excessive alcohol and other drugs in adolescents has shown that both alcohol and marijuana overuse can cause serious detrimental effects on the development of the teenage mind.
ScienceDaily for October 16, 2010 reported on effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Scientific data continue to indicate that higher intake of alcohol during pregnancy adversely affects the fetus, and could lead to very severe developmental or other problems in the child. However, most recent publications show little or no effects of occasional or light drinking by the mother during pregnancy. The studies also demonstrate how socio-economic, education, and other lifestyle factors of the mother may have large effects on the health of the fetus and child; these must be considered when evaluating the potential effects of alcohol during pregnancy.
An article in ScienceDaily for October 7, 2010 reported on drinking and pregnancy.
Light drinking during pregnancy does not harm a young child's behavioural or intellectual development, reveals research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
ScienceDaily for September 29, 2010 reported on alcohol use in the US.
The findings, Dr. Caetano said, suggest that continuous monitoring of alcohol consumption levels is needed to understand better the factors that affect consumption. Monitoring also would help to detect as early as possible signs that rates of risky drinking behaviors such as binge drinking or drinking to intoxication may be increasing, said Dr. Caetano, who also is regional dean of the UT School of Public Health's campus in Dallas.
ScienceDaily for September 28, 2010 reported on drug and alcohol consumption of teenagers.
The study, which is to be published during the next year as part of a collective work, was conducted on more than 500 French- speaking students at three separate moments of their lives: at ages 10 to 11, 12 to 13 and 14 to15. It took into consideration the popularity of the child and their friends and tracked their consumption of alcohol, marijuana and hard drugs.
ScienceDaily for September 23, 2010 reported on drinking by older persons.
She said, "The results clearly show that even with low blood alcohol concentrations, reactions to sudden gait perturbations are seriously affected. After ingestion of 2 alcoholic drinks, obstacles were hit twice as often, response times were delayed and response amplitudes were reduced. These changes were most obvious in situations with little available response time."
ScienceDaily for August 31, 2010 reported on drinking rates of children.
The coming weeks mark the return to school for many of our youngest citizens. Sadly the satisfaction of making new friends and obtaining good test scores may be overshadowed by the prospect of substance abuse for some school-aged adolescents. The previous decade has witnessed a two-fold increase in both alcohol consumption and intoxication by adolescents age 12 to 17.
ScienceDaily for August 25, 2010 reported
on chronic drinking and our Circadian Rhythms.
Circadian rhythmicity is regulated by circadian clock genes, and animal studies have shown that chronic drinking can alter expressions in these genes. A new study has found that significantly lower levels of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) -- a molecule of RNA that helps to manufacture proteins -- in circadian clock genes in alcohol-dependent (AD) patients support a relationship between circadian clock gene dysregulation and drinking in humans.
ScienceDaily for August 25, 2010 reported on damage to memory from alcohol.
Alcohol dependence (AD) has negative effects on cognitive processes such as memory. Metamemory refers to the subjective knowledge that people have of their own cognitive processing abilities, such as their monitoring and control of memory. A new study has found that AD has a negative impact on both episodic memory as well as metamemory.
ScienceDaily for August 24, 2010 reported on moderate drinking and mortality.
While moderate drinking -- one to less than three drinks per day -- is linked to a decrease in mortality in middle-aged and older adults, there is also concern that the health benefits of moderate drinking have been overestimated. A new study of the association between drinking and mortality during a 20-year period, which controlled for confounding factors such as previous problem drinking, confirms an association of moderate drinking and reduced mortality among older adults.
ScienceDaily for August 23, 2010 reported on alcohol and breast cancer.
Although alcohol intake is an established risk factor for overall breast cancer, few studies have looked at the relationship between alcohol use and breast cancer risk by subtype of breast cancer. While some studies have shown alcohol use is more strongly related to risk of hormone receptor-positive (estrogen receptor and/or progesterone receptor-positive) breast cancer, not many have looked at breast cancer risk by histology, or whether a tumor is ductal -- in the milk ducts -- or lobular -- in the milk-producing lobules.
ScienceDaily for August 20, 2010 reported on drinking by youths.
In a paper published in the journal Addiction, Research and Theory,a research team led by Lee Strunin, PhD, a professor of community health sciences at BUSPH, detailed their study of the drinking patterns and histories of 160 Italian adolescents and young adults who identified themselves as regular or heavy drinkers. The authors concluded that the introduction of a moderate amount of alcohol in a family setting could prevent young people from binge drinking and nurture healthier drinking behaviors.
ScienceDaily for August 19, 2010 reported on drinking and cognitive functions.
A large prospective study of 5033 men and women in the Tromsø Study in northern Norway has reported that moderate wine consumption is independently associated with better performance on cognitive
tests. The subjects (average age 58 and free of stroke) were followed over 7 years during which they were tested with a range of cognitive function tests.
ScienceDaily for August 6, 2010 reported on Dementia.
While the exact cause of dementia is still unknown, several modifiable risk factors have already been identified. These include vascular risk factors (heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol), a history of depression, diet, alcohol consumption, and education level.
ScienceDaily for August 3, 2010 reported on the impact of a pep talk given in ER to teenagers.
A brief, motivational talk in the emergency room reduced by half the chances that teenagers would experience peer violence or problems due to drinking, according to a study published Aug. 4 in a theme issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
