Answer Addiction

Tag: binge drinking

  • How Binge Drinking May Affect Young Adults

    How Binge Drinking May Affect Young Adults

    Young adults who are heavy drinkers may be heightening their risk for future cardiovascular issues, according to a new study.

    In addition to the obvious effects of excessive drinking, young adults who binge drink may also be at risk of heart disease and stroke as they age. 

    Authors of a new study published in Journal of the American Heart Association suggest that the one-in-five college students who binge drink have reason to be concerned for their health. 

    In the study, researchers examined the responses of 4,710 individuals between 18 and 45 years old who had taken part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between the years 2011 and 2012, and 2013 and 2014. 

    Those individuals were then broken into three categories: those who did not drink, those who binge drank 12 or fewer times per year, and those who binge drank 12 or more times per year.

    Of the individuals involved, about 25% of men and about 11% of women binge drank “frequently.” For those who binge drank 12 or fewer times per year, 29% of men and 25% of women fell into the category.

    Researchers found that those who binge drank frequently seemed more likely to exhibit risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which could lead to cardiovascular issues and strokes later in life.

    Researchers also looked at the effects of alcohol consumption on young men versus young women. They concluded that men who binge drank often had higher blood pressure and higher cholesterol than those who did not binge drink often. When compared to low frequency drinkers, women who binge drank had higher blood sugar levels.

    Mariann Piano, an author of the study and professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University’s School of Nursing, tells Newsweek that a main takeaway from this study is that risky behavior can be changed. 

    “Implementing lifestyle interventions to reduce blood pressure in early adulthood may be an important strategy to prevent cardiovascular disease later in life,” she said to Newsweek. “As part of this intervention pattern, young adults should be screened and counseled about alcohol misuse, including binge drinking, and advised on how binge drinking may affect their cardiovascular health.”

    This study is only one of a few recent studies focusing on how unhealthy lifestyles in youth can affect them later in life.

    In July, researchers in England published a study that found that being overweight as a teen could change the heart’s shape and affect the manner in which it functions.

    Like Mariann Piano, Ashleigh Doggett, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, also told Newsweek that habits can be changed at a young age to avoid such dangers later in life. 

    “It can be a common misconception that heart-related issues only affect an older demographic, which we know isn’t the case,” she said. “This study highlights the importance of endorsing a healthy lifestyle from a young age—the earlier we reinforce healthier habits, the greater impact it can have.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Does Teen Drinking Affect Metabolism?

    Does Teen Drinking Affect Metabolism?

    A recent study examined how underage drinking affected the metabolism of teens ages 13 to 17.

    In addition to it being illegal, underage drinkers now have another reason to refrain from drinking alcohol, as a recent study has determined that teenage alcohol use can negatively impact metabolism. 

    The study was based on a previous study done by the same team of researchers at the University of Eastern Finland, which found that drinking may decrease gray matter volume in teenagers’ brains. Researchers believe the decrease in gray matter and negative impact on metabolism may be connected. 

    “Despite [the participants’] alcohol use being ‘normal,’ their metabonomic profile and brain gray matter volumes differed from those in the light-drinking participant group,” Noora Heikkinen, a researcher from the University of Eastern Finland’s Institute of Clinical Medicine, told Newsweek.

    The recent study was published in the journal Alcohol and was a followup to a study in which data was collected on teens between the ages of 13 and 17 in eastern Finland. 

    The original data was collected between 2004 and 2005. At that time, the teens completed questionnaires about their hobbies, family life, lifestyle and substance use.

    Additionally, they took a test created by the World Health Organization which is designed to identify alcohol use disorders. Some of the questions had to do with how much alcohol they drank on a typical day of drinking and how often they consumed more than six drinks at a time.

    For the recent study, which was done between 2013 and 2015, researchers recruited 40 moderate-to-heavy drinkers and 40 light drinkers. The light drinkers had scored a maximum of two on the World Health Organization test, which meant they drank two to four times monthly.

    Moderate-to-heavy drinkers were those who had a score of four or more for males, or three or more for females. This meant drinking two to three or four or more times weekly.

    With those participants, researchers measured metabolism and the volume of gray matter in the brain.

    In doing so, researchers found that the moderate-to-heavy drinkers had undergone changes in their amino acids and how their energy was processed, when compared to the lighter drinkers. In heavy drinkers, there was also an increase in 1-methylhistamine levels, a substance connected to the amount of gray matter in the brain. 

    Heikkinen tells Newsweek that based on the findings, researchers believe histamine production rises in the brains of adolescents who drink heavily. 

    “This observation can help in the development of methods that make it possible to detect adverse effects caused by alcohol at a very early stage,” she said. “Possibly, it could also contribute to the development of new treatments to mitigate these adverse effects.”

    Heikkinen also added that some of the damage may be reversible if drinking is cut back. 

    “There is evidence that at least some of the changes are reversible if the heavy drinking is discontinued,” she told Newsweek. “Therefore all hope is not lost for those who have had their share of parties and binge drinking in the twenties. However, if the heavy drinking is continued for decades, there is a real chance that irreversible brain atrophy will result.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Drinking Increase The Likelihood Of Cancer Or Death?

    Can Drinking Increase The Likelihood Of Cancer Or Death?

    A new study examined how alcohol consumption affects one’s health.

    Scientists have long-proven that drinking heavily is bad for your health and increases the risk of death, but does lighter drinking carry the same risk? A new study illuminates this mystery.

    The study, published in PLOS Medicine, found that those who drink the most have the highest risks of death and cancer.

    On the opposite spectrum, the study found that a person’s combined risk of dying younger or developing cancer is actually lowest among light drinkers. The study defines this as a person consuming one to three alcoholic drinks weekly. The risk for cancer or death increases with just one drink added to the week.

    Light drinkers had a lower combined risk of death or cancer when compared with non-drinkers, but the study did not look at why.

    The data from the study concluded that the average lifetime alcohol intake reported among the adults was 1.78 drinks per week. Men reported that they drink more—at 4.02 drinks per week—than women (0.80 drinks per week).

    The study showed that for both women and men, risk of death was lowest among those who consumed less than 0.5 drinks per day.

    “The reasons for the reduced risk in light drinkers compared to never drinkers are still open to debate amongst the scientific community,” said Dr. Andrew Kunzmann, a research fellow at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland and lead author of the study, according to CNN. “Some have suggested that alcohol may have cardio-protective effects that may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.”

    The data for the study came from the U.S. Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, covering 99,654 adults between the ages of 55 and 74 in the United States.

    The recommended alcoholic intake in the U.S. is two or fewer drinks a day for men, and one drink a day for women, per the American Cancer Society and the American Institute For Cancer Research. The study’s researchers suggest that this new data might call for a redefining of those recommendations.

    On the overall view of the study, Dr. Noelle LoConte, an oncologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said to CNN, “I think it reinforces what we already knew, which is moderate and heavy drinking is bad universally for cancer.”

    View the original article at thefix.com