Alcoholism

During an interview on ESPN2’s “First Take,” former Minnesota Viking and current television football analyst Robert Smith disclosed that he has struggled with alcoholism for many years.

Two new research studies suggest that liver transplant patients with a history of alcohol abuse are less likely to relapse if they undergo substance abuse treatment before and after their surgery.

While overall rates of teen drinking have declined, the number of adolescents who engage in extreme binge drinking — consuming 10 or more beverages in a row — has stayed steady, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The number of Americans who visited emergency rooms for alcohol-related reasons from 2009 to 2010 is significantly higher than in 2001 to 2002, according an analysis released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Teens and young adult women who want to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer should avoid alcohol, according to a new study.

Could eating disorders and alcoholism share a common link? A new study suggests that people who suffer from alcohol dependency may also be more genetically prone to have an eating disorder and vice versa.

The findings, published in journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, showed that women tend to enter substance abuse programs five years sooner than men.

Their findings, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, indicate that people with PTSD and alcoholism benefited the most from combined treatments to reduce alcohol cravings and lessen emotional distress, compared to people treated for each condition separately.

Women are drinking more than ever before. Studies conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that binge drinking is on the rise among college and middle-aged women.

A new study, published in the journal Neuron, suggests that nicotine can temporarily change how the brain’s reward system responds to alcohol via stress hormones.

People with a sweet tooth may be more likely to abuse alcohol, according to findings from a new study. Through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine found that drinking alcohol stimulates the same area of the brain as consuming sweet drinks.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)  have been able to identify and deactivate a brain pathway linked to memories that cause alcohol cravings in rats, which may one day lead to a treatment option for people who suffer from addiction.