Details

Published: 25 June 2024

Hits: 193

Let’s just commence with a very synoptic look at…

Teenage Alcohol Use and Health Risks

Teenagers who consume alcohol face several health risks in both short and long term, depending on the duration of drinking habits. The earlier they start drinking the greater the likelihood of being a life-time consumer.

Let’s explore some of these risks:

Impaired Judgment and Decision-Making:

• Alcohol affects cognitive function, leading to poor decision-making and risky behaviours.
• Increased risk of accidents, injuries, and unsafe sexual encounters¹.

Physical and Sexual Assault:

• Alcohol consumption increases vulnerability to physical and sexual assault.
• Impaired judgment can lead to dangerous situations¹.

Brain Development Interference:

• Alcohol negatively impacts brain development in adolescents.
• Long-term consequences may affect learning, memory, and attention¹.

Increased Risk of Alcohol Problems Later in Life:

• Early alcohol use is linked to a higher likelihood of alcohol addiction in adulthood¹.

Other Health Problems:

• Alcohol abuse can lead to liver disease, heart issues ¹.
• Now proven causal contributor to at least 7 types of Cancer

Remember, it is currently in recommended in Australia that people under 18 avoid alcohol altogether due to these risks. It used to be 21, and the evidence strongly supports this as a better protective gateway. Talking openly with teens about the harms of alcohol and the vital need for safety are imperative, and should not include jokingly conveyed ‘near misses’, as this can only lend itself to a down played ‘risk-assessment’ by the teen. ²³⁴

Parents and Alcohol Supply – The Reemerging Problem.

Overview of Australian Parental Supply of Alcohol Longitudinal Study (APSALS)

Parents play a significant role in shaping their children’s alcohol use. One strategy they employ is providing their children with alcohol, believing it helps teach responsible drinking. However, the consequences of parental supply are not well understood and may unintentionally harm adolescents.

The APSALS study aims to determine how parental supply influences different patterns of adolescent alcohol consumption over time.

By examining parent, child, and peer relationships, APSALS provides essential information to help parents prevent alcohol misuse in their children.

Key Findings:

• Parents are a common source of alcohol for underage drinkers. More than a quarter of Australian adolescents aged 16 and 17 were granted permission to drink at home. 
• Nearly half (47%) of current teenage drinkers obtained their last alcoholic drink from a parent.
• Around one-third (35%) intended to get drunk most times or every time they consumed alcohol.
• Over half (54%) experienced negative outcomes after drinking, such as vomiting or risky behavior2.
• Almost 18% of surveyed teenagers within two years of the legal drinking age were allowed to take alcohol to parties or social events, which is a breach of Secondary Supply Laws in most states.
• Teens who had drunk alcohol with parental permission were at increased risk of alcohol-related harm (e.g., regrettable sexual encounters, fights) compared to their counterparts. Dr Wing See Yuen of N.D.A.R.C in recently published article in Page 18, Victorian Herald Sun, on June 15^th, 2024, was quoted as saying… “Kids who were supplied alcohol by their parents were more likely to be binge drinkers and develop and alcohol use disorder (AUD) later in life.”
• The study highlights the risks of underage alcohol use at home or parties, challenging the assumption that supervised environments lead to responsible alcohol behaviour.

Some Pointers for Parents: Some fast facts

What are the recommendations for parents regarding alcohol supply?

When it comes to teens and alcohol, the new Australian drinking guidelines state that anyone under 18 should not drink alcohol at all to reduce the risk of injury and harm to the developing brain. Drinking alcohol can impact brain development up until the age of 25 years (or even older) affecting attention, memory, and decision-making¹. 

The National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) provides valuable insights into young people’s alcohol consumption in Australia. Here are some key findings from the 2022–2023 survey:

Parental Views and Approaches:

• Parents’ views on acceptable drinking onset ages vary. (Remember 21 is a better start point than 18)
• Some parents believe that exposing teenagers to alcohol, even in small amounts, is harmless.
• However, research shows that early alcohol exposure can harm developing brains and lead to long-term consequences.
• Delaying alcohol use as long as possible reduces risks³.

Reducing Parental Supply:

• Initiatives aim to reduce parental facilitation of teenage drinking.
• Understanding parenting styles and messaging can help discourage parental supply.
• Educating parents about the negative effects of underage drinking is crucial^*.

What helps prevent underage drinking:

• A quality parent-child relationship.
• Parental monitoring of their children.
• Parental support and involvement in their child’s life.
• Modelling a resilient and responsible lifestyle that demonstrates the lack of need for alcohol for celebration or alleviation. 

What increases the likelihood of underage drinking:

• Parental drinking.
• Parents discussing alcohol “positively.”
• Parents sharing their own negative drinking experiences^*.

Much more is ‘caught’ than ‘taught’, so remember, your role modelling along with honest, open and accountable communication (both ways) can help prevent alcohol misuse among adolescents.

There are some simple keys in building a preventative and resilient teen in this space, that just take a deliberate and sustained approach from the parent of guardian. 

1. Open Conversations: Start having open conversations about alcohol and other drugs with your child from as early as eight years old. Provide them with accurate information and attitudes before they go to high school.
2. Values & Boundaries: Agreed upon family values and boundaries that then make sense because of those modelled values is a key.
3. Setting and prioritising safety are essential. There’s no safe level of alcohol use for children under 18 years. Invest time in looking at the extensive research into the staggering harms of alcohol on the body and brain, but particularly on the developing brain. Alcohol poses risks to brain development and overall health in young people. The legal drinking age in Australia is 18 years, and experts recommend avoiding alcohol until at least 18 or even 21.
4. Stop Supplying Alcohol to your kids, and definitely not other’s kids: Giving alcohol to your child or their friends doesn’t reduce harm. It can lead to more drinking later in life. Set clear boundaries and avoid providing alcohol¹³.
5. Be a Role Model: Again, the most important thing any parent or guardian can do is be the proactive role model for your charge. Your behaviour plays a significant role in shaping their child’s beliefs and attitudes about alcohol—whether you drink frequently or attend social gatherings without relying on alcohol—can influence your child’s understanding of alcohol’s role in their life.
6. Secondary Supply Laws: In Australia, it is against the law to serve alcohol in a private home to anyone under 18 years old unless you are the young person’s parent or guardian. Bar staff and bottle shops are also prohibited from serving or selling alcohol to people under 18. Secondary supply (when adults provide alcohol to minors) is the most common way young people obtain alcohol.
7. Get Advice: You can always check with your family physician or other clinician if you have concerns that the research doesn’t address.

School-Based Initiatives and Public Campaigns:

• Schools can implement programs that enhance students’ knowledge and skills related to alcohol.
• Effective initiatives increase students’ sense of belonging, connection to school, and overall participation.
• Addressing social and environmental risk factors (such as alcohol-related norms) alongside individual-level interventions is essential¹.

Peer Programs:

• Peer-led programs at schools, community centres, and youth centres can help prevent or delay alcohol and other drug use.
• Effective peer education programs often involve:
  • Peer leaders nominated by peers (not non-peer adults).
  • Peer leaders modelling desired behaviours.
  • Active involvement of young people in program content development².

Public Education Campaigns:

• Community-wide awareness campaigns can effectively raise awareness and change drinking behaviour.
• These campaigns should be sustained, properly resourced, and part of a comprehensive policy framework³.

• Remember, collaborative efforts involving schools, parents, and communities contribute to healthier outcomes for young people. Last, but by no means least.
• Raising the Minimum Legal Drinking Age up even just a little for both purchase and consumption will place positive downward pressure on teen alcohol consumption. 

Sources:

• Greater Risk www.greaterrisk.com
• 21 Be There www.21bethere.org.au
• World Resiliency Day https://worldresiliencyday.org/
• Teenage alcohol use: how to prevent it | Raising Children Network
• National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023: Young people’s consumption of alcohol - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au)
• https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/young-people-alcohol
• Binge-drinking, pre-drinking & teenagers | Raising Children Network
• https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/parental-as-anything-with-maggie-dent/is-it-ok-to-let-my-teen-drink-alcohol/103802718
• Alcohol and teenagers - Better Health Channel
• How parents can protect against drug use and related harms - Positive Choices
• https://www.cancersa.org.au/research/research-projects/previousfundedresearch/search/reducing-parental-facilitation-of-teenage-drinking-new-perspectives-and-approaches-myeloid-leukaemia-2/
• Australian Parental Supply of Alcohol Longitudinal Study (APSALS) | NDARC - National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (unsw.edu.au)
• High school children’s alcohol consumption: Half of underage drinkers had alcohol supplied by their parents (smh.com.au)
• Preventing or delaying young people using alcohol and drugs - Alcohol and Drug Foundation (adf.org.au)
• School-Based-Programs-to-Prevent-and-Reduce-Alcohol-Use-among-Youth.pdf (researchgate.net)
• systematic review of alcohol education programs for young people: do these programs change behaviour? | Health Education Research | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
• policy-brief-education-on-alcohol-february-2018.pdf (ccyp.wa.gov.au)

Details

Published: 04 June 2024

Hits: 242

Prenatal exposure to alcohol and its impact on reward processing and substance use in adulthood …this is the first study demonstrating that even moderate levels of alcohol drinking during pregnancy have long-lasting effects on brain function and risk of cannabis use in the offspring. Therefore, our study has critical implications for public health messaging on possible harms related to drinking during pregnancy.

Abstract: Heavy maternal alcohol drinking during pregnancy has been associated with altered neurodevelopment in the child but the effects of low-dose alcohol drinking are less clear and any potential safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy is not known. We evaluated the effects of prenatal alcohol on reward-related behavior and substance use in young adulthood and the potential sex differences therein…Maternal alcohol drinking was assessed during mid-pregnancy and pre-conception. Brain response to reward anticipation and reward feedback was measured using the Monetary Incentive Delay task and substance use in young adulthood was assessed using a self-report questionnaire. We showed that even a moderate exposure to alcohol in mid-pregnancy but not pre-conception was associated with robust effects on brain response to reward feedback (six frontal, one parietal, one temporal, and one occipital cluster) and with greater cannabis use in both men and women 30 years later. Moreover, mid-pregnancy but not pre-conception exposure to alcohol was associated with greater cannabis use in young adulthood and these effects were independent of maternal education and maternal depression during pregnancy. Further, the extent of cannabis use in the late 20 s was predicted by the brain response to reward feedback in three out of the nine prenatal alcohol-related clusters and these effects were independent of current alcohol use. Sex differences in the brain response to reward outcome emerged only during the no loss vs. loss contrast. Young adult men exposed to alcohol prenatally had significantly larger brain response to no loss vs. loss in the putamen and occipital region than women exposed to prenatal alcohol. Therefore, we conclude that even moderate exposure to alcohol prenatally has long-lasting effects on brain function during reward processing and risk of cannabis use in young adulthood.

Conclusions: Overall, our findings, based on 30 years’ worth of data on a prenatal birth cohort, suggest that even relatively moderate exposure to alcohol during pregnancy, a critical sensitive period for brain development, might alter neural reward processing in the offspring and contribute to the intergenerational transmission of risk for substance use disorders. This is the first prospective longitudinal study testing the impact of prenatal and pre-conception exposure to alcohol on brain response to reward processing and substance use in young adulthood. While a number of studies reported altered neurodevelopment and behavior in FASD, this is the first study demonstrating that even moderate levels of alcohol drinking during pregnancy have long-lasting effects on brain function and risk of cannabis use in the offspring. Therefore, our study has critical implications for public health messaging on possible harms related to drinking during pregnancy. (Sources: Translational Psychiatry (nature.com)

Details

Published: 13 May 2024

Hits: 289

Summary of key findings:

Universities and schools are being urged to join a growing movement in Ireland and the UK that seeks to drive out the alcohol industry from any influence on public health advice on alcohol use and harm.

A campaign in Ireland has led to educational programmes funded by the alcohol industry being removed from schools. But industry backed groups still provide alcohol education in UK schools, including a theatre group funded by alcohol giant Diageo – the Smashed program.

Universities are also targeted: Drinkaware, an alcohol industry front group funded by major alcohol producers and retailers, venues, and restaurant groups, funds freshers’ education materials, including a free cup to measure alcohol units.

The public health community is calling for an Ireland-style ban on materials by industry associated charities because they normalise alcohol use, are poorly evaluated, and take up space that otherwise could be filled by truly independent and more evidence-based initiatives.

Alcohol industry funded “education” programs do not treat alcohol as a harmful substance, normalise alcohol use, and take up space that otherwise could be filled by programs that do not cause harm and provide independent, evidence-based information.

Following Ireland’s lead

Ireland’s clear stance on removing the alcohol industry from schools and universities follows a campaign led by the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network (ICAAN), set up in 2021 out of a collective desire to eradicate industry influence from education.

ICAAN wrote to 700 schools across Ireland asking for information about Drinkaware in Ireland’s education programme but received no replies. Neither teachers nor Drinkaware were able to provide programme materials for scrutiny by independent experts. The Department of Education in Ireland said it had not seen the resources or evaluated the programme.

• 15 000 Irish students had been through an alcohol industry funded, school based, education programme
• But parents had never seen the programme or been asked to give permission

The ICAAN campaign got Ireland’s prime minister and the Department of Education to issue a statement telling school principals not to allow Drinkaware into schools.

(Source: For complete article go to Movendi Science Digest)

Details

Published: 07 May 2024

Hits: 351

Macular Disease Foundation warns more than one drink a day can lead to vision loss

Aussies who consume more than one glass of wine or beer a day are putting themselves at serious risk of developing a debilitating disease. #alcoholawareness #soberinspiration

A couple of beers after work or a half-bottle of wine at dinner is a beloved Aussie tradition, but new findings from a leading eye vision organisation suggests that second glass of booze could put Australians at greater risk of suffering serious health issues.

The Macular Disease Foundation says consuming more than 12g of alcohol a day, which is less than one large glass of wine or a large beer, is linked to a larger risk of age-related macular degeneration or irreversible vision loss.

More than 1.5 million Australians are affected by AMD and the foundation led a systematic review of alcohol consumption, dietary patterns, food and nutritional supplements linked to the disease.

It found a second beer or wine had a “detrimental effect” on AMD and likely increased the probability of developing the disease.

Excessive alcohol intake can contribute to oxidative stress and inflammation in the body, the foundation states, which are believed propel the development and progression of AMD.

Macular Disease Foundation chief executive Kathy Chapman recommends consumers cut back on their booze intake.

“We know that cutting back on alcohol has many benefits, including reducing the risk of developing liver disease, high blood pressure, certain cancers, as well as positive effects like boosting mood, keeping a healthy weight and saving money,” she said.

“But what our review is telling us – and what many people don’t realise – are the significant benefits drinking less alcohol has on maintaining healthy eyes and lowering the risk of developing or progressing AMD.”

(for more Source: news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site)