Good drinkers turn into worst drunks: [1 All-round Country Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 11 Sep 2006: 3.
Abstract
THE ability to “drink anyone under the table” could be the beginning of full-blown alcoholism. One of the world’s leading experts on the link between alcoholism and genetics said in Sydney yesterday a 25-year study of 453 men had shown that a low response to alcohol in youth had a correlation with the onset of the “perfect storm” of alcoholism in later life.
The latest research has been published in this month’s issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research and in last month’s Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Dr Schuckit spoke yesterday in Sydney at the World Congress on Alcohol Research, organised by the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism.
Full Text
THE ability to “drink anyone under the table” could be the beginning of full-blown alcoholism. One of the world’s leading experts on the link between alcoholism and genetics said in Sydney yesterday a 25-year study of 453 men had shown that a low response to alcohol in youth had a correlation with the onset of the “perfect storm” of alcoholism in later life.
Mark Schuckit, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, said most people began drinking for the effect, not because of the taste, and a low response to alcohol meant that they had to drink more to gain the same effect as normal people.
Such people found themselves drinking more and mixing with their heavier drinking peers.
“A low response to alcohol is related to a higher alcoholism risk,” he said. “We are now trying to find the genes — and there may be many — that affects a level of response.
“Many of the people who later became alcoholic said that in their early days they could drink anyone under the table. They don’t realise what is happening to them because they hang around people who drink like they do. It can be difficult for them to realise the troubles they are developing.”
The latest research has been published in this month’s issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research and in last month’s Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Dr Schuckit spoke yesterday in Sydney at the World Congress on Alcohol Research, organised by the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism.
Dr Schuckit said people with a low response to alcohol might go out drinking all night to “get a buzz”, while others might get a similar affect from a few drinks.
He said if people at high risk of alcoholism could be identified genetically early, then they could be helped. “If you understand the mechanisms you can grab people younger and teach them the things to avoid,” he said.
Organiser of the conference, professor of neuropathology at Sydney University Clive Harper, said he hoped holding the conference in Australia would highlight the problems that could develop from heavy alcohol use and lead to better treatments and better drugs.
“There is a very blase attitude in Australia to drinking and its hazards,” he said. “It is so culturally acceptable that people don’t realise what is happening until the organ damage is already done. That is one of the important messages to get through to the public, the organ damage that can be done through drinking excessively.”