National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

An estimated 30.8 million American adults (14.8 percent) meet standard diagnostic criteria for at least one personality disorder as defined in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), according to the results of the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) reported in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical...

Thu, 06/06/2019 - 12:00

Thu, 06/06/2019 - 12:00

Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all liver disease deaths in the United States each year. Alcohol-associated liver disease (AALD) now replaces hepatitis C viral infection as the lead cause of liver transplantation due to chronic liver disease. Consequently, there is an urgent need for effective interventions for AALD, a complex disease with multiple contributing factors. One of these...

An analysis of U.S. death certificate data by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that nearly 1 million people died from alcohol-related causes between 1999 and 2017. The number of death certificates mentioning alcohol more than doubled from 35,914 in 1999 to 72,558 in 2017, the year...

Bethesda, Maryland — National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. today announced the appointment of Ting-Kai Li, M.D. as the new director of the NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Dr. Li is currently Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine, and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he...

An experimental compound empowers an enzyme to help process acetaldehyde, a toxic metabolite of alcohol, according to new research supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The findings, now online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), might lead to new treatments to help people with impaired ability to metabolize acetaldehyde and other...

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 12:00

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 12:00

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a naturally-occurring brain molecule that helps regulate emotional behavior, stress responses, and other functions. Much research evidence suggests that NPY also plays an important role in regulating alcohol consumption. Scientists led by NIAAA Clinical Director Markus Heilig, M.D., Ph.D., recently investigated the effect of NPY on stress-induced relapse to alcohol use. Relapse prevention is an important...

Office of the Chief, LCTS National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism National Institutes of Health Clinical Research Center 10 Center Drive, Room 10-CRC/1E-5334, MSC: 1108 Bethesda MD 20892-1108 telephone: 301.435.9386 Current staff Dena Stringer, BA Clinical Lab Secretary telephone: 301.435.9376 dena.stringer@mail.nih.gov Dena Stringer is responsible for administrative support for all of LCTS, including travel, procurement (except lab-procurement), and personnel...

A genetic variant of a receptor in the brain’s reward circuitry heightens the stimulating effects of early exposures to alcohol and increases alcohol consumption, 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). Conducted in rhesus monkeys, the study extends previous research that suggests...

September 26, 2014

Craig J. McClain, M.D., will deliver the 2014 Mark Keller Honorary Lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 1:30 p.m. in Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10. The title of his talk is “Nutrition, Gut Barrier Function, and Liver Disease.” Dr. McClain is an internationally distinguished clinician and scientist in the fields of gastroenterology, alcohol abuse, nutrition, cytokine research and hepatic drug metabolism...

Two NIH institutes join forces to educate teens about the risks of using drugs and alcohol An annual, week-long observance that brings together teens and scientific experts to shatter persistent myths about substance use and addiction will feature information about alcohol in addition to drug use. Now called National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW), the observance will be held...

September 1, 2016

Every day, millions of Americans prove that recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders is possible -- yet at the same time, millions more are struggling with the disease of addiction. These individuals are our family members, friends, and neighbors, and when they are not able to get the help they need, our communities and our country are not as...

March 25, 2014

Each year NIAAA presents the Mark Keller Award to an outstanding researcher who has made significant and long-term contributions to our understanding of how alcohol affects the body and mind, how we can prevent and treat alcohol use disorders, and how today's scientific advancements can provide hope for tomorrow. This year's Keller Award recipient and lecturer is Dr. Edith V...

GENE EXPRESSION CORE FACILITY for ALCOHOL RESEARCH The NIAAA is supporting a gene microarray technology resource center to assist investigators who are currently conducting, or who have an interest in initiating, gene expression studies that address alcohol-related disorders. The purpose of the Gene Expression Core facility is to provide microarray slides, and technical and bioinformatics services, to investigators for the...

Two Institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been honored with the prestigious Governors Award by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their work with HBO on the Addiction Project. "Addiction" is a 14-part documentary television series and multimedia initiative revealing the science of addiction, its treatment, recovery, and its costs to families and society. A...

Adults with nicotine dependence and/or psychiatric disorders consume 70 percent of all cigarettes smoked in the United States, according to results of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study reported in the November issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry (Volume 61). Based on the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), the article provides the first...

April 29, 2015

Alcohol Research: Current Reviews (ARCR) , NIAAA's peer-reviewed, scientific journal, is getting a new look. The redesigned home page features a one-stop resource with a new topic index, access to archived issues, and other important links. The site also allows NIAAA to post contributor's articles as soon as each becomes finalized, before an issue is complete. NIAAA is pleased to...

Prenatal exposure to even low doses of alcohol may lead to severe and highly variable deficits in the brain of a fetus, according to a new study conducted in mice. Researchers report that the unpredictable nature of the deficits may be due to inconsistencies in how fetal brain cells activate a protective response to alcohol and other harmful compounds. The...

Event registration opens today; new teacher resources available. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) announced today that the next National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW) will be held Jan. 23-29, 2017, with event registration beginning immediately. NDAFW is an annual, week-long observance that brings together teens and scientific...

May 20, 2015

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) jointly convened a Consensus Panel on New and Emerging Pharmacotherapies for Alcohol Use Disorders and Related Comorbidities. The panel brought together experts in alcohol research, clinical care, medical education, and public policy to review the current evidence on the effectiveness of available...

October 1, 2015

The National Institutes of Health announced its second wave of grants to support the goals of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative , bringing the NIH investment to $85 million in fiscal year 2015. Sixty-seven new awards, totaling more than $38 million, will go to 131 investigators working at 125 institutions in the United States and eight...