www.alkoholpolitik.ch

A family history of alcoholism could make people more likely to overindulge on junk food, Reuters reported Dec. 31. To assess whether familial alcohol dependence was linked to obesity, Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) researchers compared national survey data on obesity and addiction from 1991-1992 with data from 2001-2002. Roughly 80,000 U.S. adults completed the surveys.
Based on the 2001-2002 data, women who reported having an alcoholic parent or sibling had a 49% higher risk of obesity than women with no family history of alcoholism — a much higher association than that shown in 1991-1992. …(Source: Join Together, 01/13/11)

You’d think recent advances in health reform would have made it easier to get mental health and substance abuse treatment. Parity legislation, for example, requires insurers to cover mental health and substance abuse treatment comparably with physical health.
Think again.
In a Jan. 3 New York Times article, „A Long and Winding Road to the Emergency Room,“ Paul Christopher, M.D., a Rhode Island psychiatrist, describes the case of an adult man so dependent on alcohol that he suffered seizures when he went without it.
Despite the fact that he desperately needed medical care, red tape kept him from getting the hospital bed that his insurance was supposed to cover. … (Source: Join Together, 01/13/11)

A paper describing a dramatic change during the 20th century in England and Wales in the association between social class and mortality from liver cirrhosis features in Alcohol and Alcoholism. While deaths from cirrhosis were more common among higher social classes in the early part of the century, the pattern changed so that deaths from cirrhosis were much more common among the lower social classes by the end of the century. Data on male cirrhosis mortality by social class were obtained from the Registrar General’s Decennial Supplements. … (Source: Medical News Today, 01/11/11)

Acculturation stress may be part of the reason some Mexican and Mexican-American teens living in the U.S. report high rates of marijuana and alcohol use, Fox News Latino reported Dec. 30. …
The study, led by Jennifer A. Kam, assistant professor of communications at Ohio State University, found that increases in perceived discrimination over time were related to increases in acculturation stress, which in turn were associated with increased risk of alcohol, pot, and tobacco dependence. (Source: Join Together, 01/11/11)

A Twin Follow-up Study
Abstract: In this prospective follow-up study, we monitored the effects of midlife alcohol consumption and drinking patterns on cognitive impairment risks in late life. 1,486 subjects recruited from the Finnish Twin Cohort were included in the analyses. …Our results add to the evidence that light to moderate alcohol use is associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment compared with higher levels of consumption. In addition, binge drinking was found to be an independent risk factor for cognitive impairment. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 1/10/11) j-alz.com, Volume 22, Number 3 Comment: The role and type of abstainers in this study is not clear.

If tests on humans are successful, one jab a month would keep patients away from the toxic sauce known as alcohol.
Chilean scientists derived the vaccine from a genetic mutation present in 20% of the Asian population; those with the mutation in their genes reacted so violently to alcohol, that it inhibits addiction, according to Juan Asenjo head of the project. The Chilean scientists in essence tried to replicate that gene in a vaccine.
The vaccine is expected to augment dizziness, nausea and other adverse effects of alcohol, “With the vaccine, the desire to drink is going to be minimal, due to the sharpness of the effects” said the physician. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 01/07/11) hispanicallyspeakingnews.com, 01/06/11

By K. S. JACOB, Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632002, Tamil Nadu, India; ksjacob@cmcvellore.ac.in
ABSTRACT: Extreme policies of prohibition or the current permissive strategies are counterproductive and call for a nuanced public health approach that integrates both the regulation of availability of alcohol as well as helps in rigorously enforcing the law. …. The WHO’s global strategy for alcohol and governmental and non-governmental efforts can be used synergistically to produce sustained action. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 01/03/11) Natl Med J India 2010;23:224–5

ALMOST every murder committed in Queensland during the past year was suspected to involve alcohol, crime statistics show.
It comes as police investigate a death at a park in Cairns at the weekend, which is also believed to be alcohol-related.
Homicides were up to 56 in 2009-10 compared with 49 the previous year, and only six did not involve alcohol or drugs.
The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre said Australians were among the world’s worst abusers of alcohol, with few seeking help to curb its impact on their health. Research shows almost one in five will experience problematic drinking, while 4 per cent become alcoholics. …( Source: Alcohol Reports, 01/03/11) heraldsun.com.au, 12/30/10

– The Link Between Alcohol Abuse and Social Anxiety
People who suffer from social anxiety (sometimes suffering anxiety attacks also) may resort to the point of drinking alcohol to alleviate these extreme feelings of nervousness and in some cases without realizing it, end up engaging in alcohol abuse. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 12/31/10) prlog.org, 12/30/10

Addiction researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that a risk for alcoholism also may put individuals at risk for obesity.
The researchers noted that the association between a family history of alcoholism and obesity risk has become more pronounced in recent years. Both men and women with such a family history were more likely to be obese in 2002 than members of that same high-risk group had been in 1992. (Source: Medical News Today, 12/31/10)