According to a new study, fruit flies show both desperation and relapse when exposed to alcohol for a length of time.

Researchers say their study may shed light on the genetic roots of alcohol addiction.

Fruit flies, it may seem strange, are often used for genetic studies due both to their rapid reproductive rate, as well as their chemical pathways similar to humans. Previously, fruit flies were used for intoxication and tolerance studies.

This new study out of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) looked specifically at addiction, with the hope of later working “out the genes underlying addiction-like behaviours,” co-author Anita Devineni told National Geographic News.

For the first experiment, fruit flies were presented with two different liquids—one containing ethanol (a form of alcohol) and the other without. The flies were given unlimited access to the liquids, although feeders were only refilled once a day. The fruit flies showed an overwhelming preference for the alcohol-filled liquid.

Furthermore, the more they drank of it, the more they seemed to crave it—their bouts of drinking became more frequent over time.

In the second experiment, researchers tainted the alcoholic liquid with substances known to normally repulse fruit flies. However, they drank on!

Researchers then forced the flies into a three-day dry spell—quite a bout of time when your lifespan is about 30 days. As soon as the flies were offered the alcoholic liquid again, the flies returned to drinking at the same levels as before the enforced dry spell, very similar to an alcoholic’s relapse.

The next stage of research is in hopes of identifying the genes behind relapse, potentially leading to a lasting and effective addiction treatment for alcoholism.

The findings appear in Current Biology.

Source: National Geographic News

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol

According to a report released this week, British Columbians are consuming more alcohol, and dying more from alcohol-related health harms, than they were ten years ago.

The report, “Alcohol Pricing, Public Health & the HST: Proposed Incentives for BC Drinkers to Make Healthy Choices” from the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research (CARBC), found that alcohol consumption in the province rose 16 percent from 1998 to 2008, compared to a 9 percent increase in the rest of Canada.

This translates into an increase from 7.5 litres in 1998 to 8.7 litres of alcohol consumed per capita in 2008. Thus, the average British Columbian aged 15 years or older drank 525 alcoholic drinks in 2008 compared to 475 drinks in 1998.

Furthermore, perhaps even more alarmingly, researchers found an increase in alcohol-related deaths to 1,993 deaths in 2007, a 9.6 percent increase in just five years.

Specifically, deaths due to liver cirrhosis, which researchers consider the most accurate indicator of alcohol-health harms, rose 39 percent in the same time period.

Researchers also discovered an increase in crack cocaine and ecstasy use in the province, but a decrease in marijuana, synonymous with BC, and crystal meth.

The report, part of the BC Alcohol & Other Drug Monitoring Project, attributes the rise in alcohol consumption to the ease of access to alcohol due to recent increases in the number of liquor stores in the province, an increase in disposable income, and the dip in the price of alcohol compared to the overall cost of living.

Researchers recommend the price of alcoholic beverages be increased in order to stem abundant consumption. Furthermore, they would like to see pricing be in relation to alcoholic content, thereby making drinks with high alcohol content have a high price tag.

Will a bump in the price of alcohol really deter people from drinking or drinking more?

Do you think we would see British Columbians drinking less or, taking a lesson from prohibition, marijuana and other illegal drugs, would we see a rise in a black market?

Source: Canada.com

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, Substance Abuse

Have you ever wondered what Alcohol does to your brain?

A recent blog entry at Psychology Today helps explain the known effects of alcohol on the brain, beyond intoxication.

If you ever thought that drinking more than moderately wasn’t detrimental to your mind long-term, think again.

According to research gathered by blog author Susan Tapert, about 50 percent of those who meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol addiction show some signs of thinking and memory problems. Abilities to plan ahead, withhold responses, learn and hold new information, and work with spatial information were all particularly affected.

Furthermore, alcohol appears to negatively impact the organ itself. The size and shape of brain structures were found to be abnormal in heavy drinkers. Overall, the amount of grey matter, or your brain cells, and white matter, the cabling between your brain cells, were significantly reduced.

This was particularly true within the frontal lobes, where planning, withholding responses, decision-making, and emotional regulation all occur. The quality of white matter was also found to be poorer in chronic heavy drinkers, effecting how information is relayed within your brain.

What does this mean?
Chronic heavy drinkers, or those with an alcohol addiction, must work harder to think and retain information.

Some good news
The adverse effects of misusing or abusing alcohol won’t last forever—if you stop abusing alcohol. Difficulties with concentration and memory tend to greatly improve once alcohol is no longer introduced into your system. Even in just the first month of sobriety, you’ll find that suddenly you have a “clear mind”, helping you find a new appreciation for your life and sobriety.

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, Substance Abuse

The Health Department in the UK has released an alcohol tracker smart phone app, ‘Drinks Tracker’, to help you keep track of your alcohol consumption, reports the BBC.

We all know how difficult the holiday season can be. It is an especially difficult and dangerous time of the year for those struggling with substance abuse, particularly with alcohol. With the holidays comes party after party, situations ripe for social drinking. It can be all too inviting to go overboard, especially when you can’t seem to know when to stop.

With Britain’s Department of Health’s drinks tracker, you receive a personalised chart of your alcohol consumption. A ‘drinks diary’, you can monitor and very literally see that you’re drinking too much.

The app is offered free across the UK, downloaded straight to your smart phone (internet access on your phone required) from the NHS Choices website or iTunes.

For those without a smart phone, or not in the UK, a downloadable drinks tracker for your desktop is available at the NHS Choices site.

The tracker requires that you enter the number of alcoholic drinks consumed each day, and providing you with a personal graph that tracks your alcohol drinking habits, making it very clear whether you are drinking too much.

The tracker helps you become aware of your excessive alcohol consumption, can help you avoid alcohol by holding you accountable, or signal that you may need professional help including residential alcohol addiction treatment.

The tracker is part of the British government’s £9 million “Know Your Limits” marketing campaign, aimed at encouraging safe drinking habits in relation to the healthy drinking guidelines set forth by the Department of Health.

Source: BBC News

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, Substance Abuse

New research suggests that older problem drinkers’ habits differ from their younger counterparts, as well as from older non-problem drinkers.

New research from Ohio State University suggests that older problem drinkers, whose drinking is classified as either alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence, drink significantly more and more often than their younger counterparts.

Researchers say that the findings suggest that these older problem drinkers may have developed a tolerance to alcohol requiring them to drink more to achieve the desired effects.

Using data collected in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a national survey of more than 43,000 Americans in 2000-01 under the direction of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), researchers suggest that certain groups of older Americans, those who fall in so-called problem drinking categories, increase their alcohol intake as they age. This counters previous research that showed that as Americans age, their intake of alcohol tends to decrease.

Problematic drinking was defined as falling into one of two categories: alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence.

Alcohol Abuse was defined as presenting mostly social-related problems related to alcohol use, including legal issues and engaging in physically hazardous activities like impaired driving.

Alcohol Dependence was defined as presenting physiological problems related to alcohol use, including increased drinking and continued use even after physical or psychological problems become apparent.

Overall, adults over the age of 60 years are less likely to fall in the alcohol abuse or dependence categories. However, those who did tended to have higher drinking levels than younger problem drinkers.

The new research found that adults over the age of 60 years with alcohol dependence problems drink an average of more than 40 alcoholic beverages per week. Young counterparts, on the other hand, average 25 to 35 alcoholic drinks a week.

These older adults also show an increase in the number of monthly binge drinking episodes compared to their younger counterparts. Those over 60 years of age with alcohol dependence averaged 19 binge episodes a month, versus an average of 13 to 15 episodes a month by younger alcohol dependence groups.

Overall, binge drinking was greater among all adults in the alcohol problem categories. Researchers suggest that binge drinking may in fact be a better indicator of alcohol addiction that simply the total amount of weekly alcoholic drinks.

Source: ScienceDaily

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, News

We have evidence of the genetic influence on alcohol dependence, including familial risk factors. Scientists have long been actively seeking the specific genetic marker for substance abuse and addiction. A recent study, published in Biological Psychiatry, may help to move the search forward towards the ultimate discovery.

Researchers led my Dr. Shirley Hill, have identified childhood risk factors for the development of later substance abuse disorders. Children with both high and low familial risk factors for alcohol dependence were recruited and followed annually over eleven years.

Children in both groups were evaluated for a series of 13 predictors, including:

• educational and achievement scores
• personality variables
• self-esteem
• anxiety
• neurobiological variables

Neurobiological variables included the P300 amplitude, or the brain signal associated with evaluation and decision-making, and postural body sway.

The study found that children with high body sway and low P30 amplitude were eight times more likely to develop substance abuse problems by their early adult years. Thus, alcoholism and substance abuse can be predicted well in advance. “Better and earlier identification of those at highest risk makes it possible to develop targeted intervention/prevention efforts for these children,” commented Dr. Hill, “possibly enabling them to avoid [this] outcome."

These markers can be useful in the education process, wherein children identified at risk can be further educated on the dangers of alcohol dependence and drug addiction. Furthermore, they can be taught early on appropriate coping mechanisms and life skills, all helping to avoid addiction before it even begins.

Neurobiological variables proving to be good predictors may also help scientists discovered the much sought-after genetic markers.

Source: Physorg.com

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, Treatment

According to new report released Wednesday, September 23 2009, by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, teens who have infrequent family dinners are, overall, more likely to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

The Importance of Family Dinners V is part of the Center's Back to School Survey.

CASA reports that teens with infrequent family dinners, qualified as less than five times a week, compared t0 teens who do sit down to family dinners five or more times per week, are:

• 1.5 times more likely to drink
• 2 times more likely to smoke tobacco
• 2 times more likely to use pot
• about 2 times more likely to acquire prescription drugs and marijuana within an hour, suggesting regular drug purchasing and/or use
  
• 2 times more likely to expect to try drugs in the future
• 2 times more likely to have friends that use marijuana or ecstasy
  
• more than 1.5 times more likely to have friends that drink, abuse prescription drugs, and use methamphetamine
  
• almost 1.5 times more likely to have friends that use cocaine, acid, and heroin
  

Furthermore, the study looked at frequent family dinners without distractions versus infrequent family dinners with distractions, and found that teens are three times more likely to smoke pot and tobacco, and two and a half times likelier to drink alcohol when having infrequent, distracted family dinners. Distractions were categorized as talking on cell phones, texting, blackberry and other smart phones, laptops, and Game Boys or other hand held devices.

"The emotional and social benefits that come from family dinners are priceless," said Elizabeth Planet, Vice President and Director of Special Projects at CASA, in a press statement. The key is clearly parental engagement in a teen's everyday life, and active family dinners are a fantastic opportunity to create this dynamic.

Labels: Alcohol, News

In keeping with Recovery Month, we would like to share the following excerpt from Roger Ebert's blog at the Chicago Sun-Times "My Name is Roger, and I'm an Alchoholic", originally posted August 25 2009.

Roger writes:

"One day, after a month of sobriety, I went to see him [his doctor] because I feared I had grown too elated, even giddy, with the realization that I need not drink again. 'Maybe I'm manic-depressive,' I told him. 'Maybe I need lithium.'

'Alcohol is a depressant,' he told me. 'When you hold the balloon under the water and suddenly release it, it is eager to pop up quickly.' I nodded. 'Yes,' I said, 'but I'm too excited. I wake up too early. I'm in constant motion. I'd give anything just to feel a little bored.'"

This is the reality of new-found sobriety--new-found joy. After years of isolation and depression, the discovery of joy can be overpowering, like a lung-full of cool air after being submerged underwater.

Revel in these new feelings of happiness. Bask in the light. Celebrate your sobriety, young and old.

We salute Mr. Ebert for his 30 years of sobriety and thank him for continuing to share his story.

To read the full journal entry, visit Roger Ebert's Journal.
Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol

Last week, we discussed the SAMHSA study on baby boomers' drug use. Now comes the news that binge drinking is also particularly prevalent in baby boomers.

In a recent LA Times blog post, it was reported that hard drinking is no longer a game for the young, as shown in a recent study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. They have found that approximately 25% of US men and nearly 10% of US women aged 50-64 years old participated in "binge drinking".

'Binge drinking' was defined as imbibing at least 4 to 5 servings of alcohol in a two-hour sitting in the last 30 days.

This segment of binge drinkers was also found to be more likely to use tobacco and illicit drugs. Of the women surveyed, binge drinking was more common in the employed and those already abusing prescription medications (using prescription medications for non-medical use). Binge drinker males were more likely to be unmarried and with a higher income bracket.

Authors of the study suggest that doctors should be asking more pointed questions about alcohol use, especially as this behavior poses an increasingly more serious health risk with age, as well as mental health risks. Binge drinking, although no less serious, seems to fall under the standards of alcohol-disorder screens.

It remains unknown, as this is not a lifetime study, whether this group ever moderated their drinking or if this is a lifelong-using pattern. It was, however, found in a 2000 national survey that 67% of baby boomers who drank, did so in levels that exceeded moderation.

Again, this study fails to address questions of addiction and addiction treatment options.

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, News, Substance Abuse

Time Magazine recently published 'Treating Alcohol Addiction: A Pill Instead of Abstinence?', discussing the use of balcofen for treating alcohol and other substance addictions.

Balcofen, although approved for relaxing muscle spasms, is being increasingly prescribed and used as an anti-craving medication. Although scientific evidence has yet to be conclusive, there is much anecdotal evidence floating around--and grabbing headlines.

Many report that regular use of balcofen aids in resisting triggers (friends, environments, sights, smells, sounds, etc.), and thus prevents relapse. Some even say that they can now occasionally drink, able to resist bingeing: "I realized I wasn't having that nagging feeling in my head, 'I should really get a drink. It never appeared during the dinner either so that was the eureka moment.," Bob, a balcofen user, tells Time Magazine. Bob now can drink moderately, a few times a week, never more than a beer or two.

Balcofen attacks cravings at their centre--intercepting the release of dopamines in response to a physical cue. But to remain effective, the medication needs to be taken indefinitely as cravings return almost immediately after use is stopped.

Miracle cure? Probably not.

Effective treatment? Very possibly.

Many addiction treatment centres firmly adhere to an absolute abstinence treatment model, ignoring the health benefits of harm reduction treatments. Treatment there is all or nothing. At Heritage Home, however, we stay on the cutting-edge of addiction research and new treatment methods, recognizing that different therapies are effective for different people. As a small residential treatment centre, we have the freedom to design a treatment program that best fits, and therefore give the best possible outcome for, the individual.

Recovery takes a different path for each addict. At times, for some people, anti-craving and other addiction treatment medications are an effective bridge to longterm sobriety, helping in the initial phases of recovery. For others, they are a permanent part of their lives after-treatment.

Either way, our goal is your success.

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, News, Treatment Approaches

Released today, a new study by Canada's Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH) finds that a whopping 1 in 25 deaths worldwide are directly attributable to alcohol use, up from 2000. The study, among other factors, sites the increase in the number of female drinkers.

The study looked at the average adult consumption rates, measured by the number of standard drinks (defined as alcohol equivalent to one can of beer, one glass of wine, or one one-oz. shot of hard alcohol) per person per week, for both countries and regions globally. Europe, for example, averages 13 standard drinks.

North America showed slightly lower numbers, with 10 to 11 standard drinks per person per week. Canada, lower still, came in at 9 standard drinks. However, the Canadian average represents a steady increase each year, along with an increased rate in high risk drinking behavior.

The global average is currently seven.

Europe also has the highest proportion of alcohol-attributable deaths, with 1 in 10 deaths due directly to alcohol use. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, is showing 15% of all deaths. The deaths were generally due to injuries, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and liver cirrhosis.

Dr. Jurgen Rehm of CAMH and others said that alcohol-attributable disorders were "among the most disabling disease categories within the global burden of disease, especially for men." Furthermore, unlike most other risk factors for disease, these impact younger people more than older. Of all people living with disabilities due to alcohol, overwhelmingly 34% are between the ages of 15 and 29, compared to 22% aged 45 to 59.

The report, one of three, is being published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal.

Labels: Alchohol Addiction, Alcohol, News, Substance Abuse, Treatment