Adolescent Alcohol Abuse
Recently I was traveling while on a juice fast and detoxification regimine. While in Spain I learned On weekends, in almost any city in Spain, thousands of young people gather in parks, streets and bars to drink alcohol until it's time to go home. How can ingest drinks in that time period? Depends on the person, but most of them ending drunk without knowing the impact on their health. Now, a recent study has shown that regular binge drinking during adolescence produces tolerance to alcohol that can impair growth and alter brain function.
Many young people have their first contact with alcohol between 12 and 17 years, an age that is considered early. A study on drug abuse in 2000 revealed that about 20% of adolescents had consumed alcohol in the months preceding the research and 10% ingerÃa five or more drinks each evening. A new study in rodents showed that a habitual consumption of alcohol in adolescence, known as a chronic intermittent exposure to ethanol, can alter brain function and have negative effects and long term.
"We found that a high intake of alcohol among adolescents produces tolerance to it, ie a decrease in the response to this drug because the body is accustomed to it," says Douglas B. Matthews, professor of psychology at the University of Memphis (United States) and one of the authors of the research using mice, published in 'Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research'. Thus, Matthews notes that "excessive consumption of alcohol impairs growth, generating an increase in weight and alter the normal functioning of the liver. It also creates a hypnotic and cognitive tolerance to this substance."
Another outcome of the study is that the profound tolerance to alcohol that occurs in puberty, can worsen in adulthood. Research findings also show, as stated Matthews, "In adolescence, a period in which people are developing, drinking large amounts can cause changes in some biological functions that have long term implications."
"Numerous studies have shown that individuals who start drinking at an early age are more at risk for alcohol problems as adults," says Linda Patia Spear, a professor in the psychology department and Center for Development of the psychobiology Binghamton University. While acknowledging that "there is still much to investigate the impact of alcohol abuse during adolescence in adulthood."
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