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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Smoking and drinking alcohol often seem to go hand in hand. A new study shows there may be a reason for that; nicotine may actually reduce the effects of alcohol and encourage more drinking.
The new study is one of three released this week that take a closer look at the reasons some people drink more than others.
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Researchers at Texas A&M University Health Science Center in College Station, Texas, found nicotine can reduce blood-alcohol concentrations. They believe this may be because nicotine causes food and drink to stay in the stomach longer, where the alcohol is broken down rather than absorbed by the body.
In another study, researchers at the VA San Diego Healthcare System in California found people with a large number of relatives with alcoholism needed to drink more alcohol to feel the effects than people with a smaller number of alcoholic relatives.
A third study revealed a drug used to treat alcoholism may actually worsen the problem for some people.
Researchers at the Brown University in Providence, R.I., and the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center found the drug naltrexone causes alcoholics with a specific gene variation to have a greater urge to drink.
Naltrexone typically helps reduce alcohol cravings. Researchers tested 90 men and women who were all classified as heavy drinkers. Researchers found three different gene variations among the participants. Depending on which gene variation they had, the participants either had no reaction to the drug at all, an increased urge to drink, or a lessened urge to drink.
Researchers say their findings suggest naltrexone could be used as a targeted therapy for only certain alcoholics.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 2006;30
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