National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

February 16, 2016

It is now well accepted in pediatrics and obstetrics that prenatal alcohol is a teratogenic agent and the primary causative factor underlying fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), although for the majority of the 20th century that knowledge was either unknown or ignored. At least 2 factors contributed to the delay in recognizing alcohol's role in teratogenicity: the rejection of earlier...

Based on just two questions from a newly released guide, health care professionals could spot children and teenagers at risk for alcohol-related problems. Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner’s Guide is now available from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Developed in collaboration with the American Academy...

College students who post references to getting drunk, blacking out, or other aspects of dangerous drinking on social networking sites are more likely to have clinically significant alcohol problems than students who do not post such references, according to a study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Researchers...

Highly visible cooperative projects, in which colleges and their surrounding communities target off-campus drinking settings, can reduce harmful alcohol use among college students, according to a report by researchers supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. “This innovative, important study is a valuable contribution to the search for solutions...

How much and how often people drink – not just the average amount of alcohol they consume over time – independently influence the risk of death from several causes, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Taken together, our results reinforce the importance of drinking in moderation. In drinkers who are not alcohol...

Data from a survey of 43,000 U.S. adults heighten concerns that early alcohol use, independent of other risk factors, may contribute to the risk of developing future alcohol problems. Those who began drinking in their early teens were not only at greater risk of developing alcohol dependence at some point in their lives, they were also at greater risk of...

Researchers supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have identified new genes that may contribute to excessive alcohol consumption. The new study, conducted with strains of animals that have either a high or low innate preference for alcohol, provides clues about the molecular mechanisms that underlie the tendency...

Unhealthy alcohol drinking patterns may go hand-in-hand with unhealthy eating habits, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Examining diet quality of individuals who drink any kind of alcoholic beverage, researchers found that people who...

December 20, 2016

NIAAA is proud to have collaborated with HBO on Risky Drinking , a documentary that premiered December 19 [website: www.hbo.com/documentaries/risky-drinking ]. Risky Drinking spotlights an important public health topic, Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), through the stories of four people whose drinking has profoundly impacted their lives. About 70 percent of American adults drink alcohol and, of those, nearly 1/3 will...

A Clinician's Guide to help patients who drink too much and other related professional support resources.

June 1, 2022

This article was first published in NIAAA Spectrum Volume 14, Issue 2. According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health , more than half of Americans ages 18 and older reported drinking alcohol in the past month, and about a quarter of this same group reported past-month binge drinking. To help adults who drink alcohol to better...

In the 1990s, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), began sponsoring the Work Group on Women, Drinking, and Pregnancy, one of four work groups then supported by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (ICCFASD). In 2018, the Work Group changed its name to the Interagency Work Group on Drinking...

The first 6 weeks of freshman year are a vulnerable time for harmful and underage college drinking and alcohol-related consequences because of student expectations and social pressures at the start of the academic year. Research shows that students who abstain from drinking often do so because their parents discussed alcohol use and its adverse consequences with them.

Knowing which patient groups are at greater risk for alcohol-related harm can reinforce your efforts to conduct careful screening, assessment, advising, and referral. Risks for alcohol-related harm vary by a wide range of factors, including your patient’s age, gender, sexual minority status, genes, mental health, and exposure to trauma or other stressors.

September is a significant month for the alcohol field for two reasons: it’s the month dedicated to raising awareness about fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and to celebrating recovery from alcohol and other substance use disorders.

Use the following role-playing exercise to explore and discuss expectations around alcohol with your middle schooler. To view or download printouts of the scripts, please click here [PDF – 3.98 MB]. Role-Playing Exercise Do you think drinking a sports drink will make you a better athlete? What about if you wear the coolest new clothes—will everyone stop and check you...

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced it will convene the first meeting of the Steering Committee on Underage Drinking Research and Prevention on September 20, in Bethesda, Maryland. The new committee comprises leaders with broad and varied expertise in child and adolescent development, neuroscience, genetics, prevention research, public policy...

Researchers have identified a genetic factor that may predispose young people to harmful drinking habits. A team of scientists interviewed college students about their alcohol consumption and then analyzed their genetic profiles, or genotypes. They found that students who shared a particular variant of the serotonin transporter gene (5HTT) consumed more alcohol per occasion, more often drank expressly to become...

Carrying a gene variant that affects the release of a specific brain protein may put one at greater risk of developing an alcohol use disorder, according to the results of a recent animal study. The study was led by Professor Dorit Ron, PhD, Endowed Chair of Cell Biology of Addiction, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, and was...