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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research shows people who start drinking at a young age tend to develop drinking problems -- specifically during adolescence. But not all young drinkers become alcohol dependent. Researcher from Duke University Medical Center studied adolescent rats to try to better understand what leads one to develop the dependence.
For the study, scientists studied male rats that were 28 days old -- equivalent to rodent adolescence. Researchers wanted to see if stress or novelty-seeking played a role in developing alcohol dependence. The rats were put in a maze to measure anxiety as well as open field locomotion and exploration to measure response to novelty. After testing, researchers measured how much water each rat drank in special lickometer cages.
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Study authors then switched the water in the cage to alcohol for three nights, followed by a choice between water and alcohol for ten nights. After two nights of water, the rats were given a choice again of water or alcohol.
Our key finding is that drinking patterns may be established after only a few exposures to alcohol, Nicole Schramm-Sapyta, a research associate in the department of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University, was quoted as saying. Rats that demonstrated a taste for alcohol after only three nights of drinking were very likely to be the biggest drinkers after longer-term exposure to alcohol. Researchers say they also found stress and novelty-seeking were not related to drinking.
So what does this mean for humans? Study authors say people who drink to excess when they first begin drinking might be at higher risk for developing alcoholism. They add that parents need to realize a small amount of drinking is normal during adolescence, but drinking needs to be addressed if the child is outside the norm or if the child endangers himself or others.
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SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 2008;32:754-762
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/.
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