Start drinking early age increases the risk of alcoholism

The age at which someone starts to drink weighs on genetic predisposition to alcoholism, and increases the risk of becoming dependent on drink, according to a study from the University of Washington (USA), to appear in the 'December issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Researchers estimate that in susceptible individuals (with a genetic predisposition to alcoholism), the act of drinking the first glass of alcohol before the age of 15 years may increase the risk of dependence existing 90%.

The researchers studied more than 6,000 adult twins to see if the age of onset of alcohol use weighed the risks of alcoholism. But "it seems that there is a stronger genetic influence in those taking their first full glass at an early age," said Dr. Arpana Agrawal, who led the work.

Those who drank their first glass of alcohol at age 16 or after and who are addicted to alcohol have done for environmental reasons, the study shows.

The researchers hypothesized that frequent consumption of alcohol and pushed at a young age may alter the brain in development, and affect gene expression.

"There is something in the fact you start drinking young, which makes risk youth with problems associated with alcohol later in life" Arpana Agrawal note. "We continue our study of the mechanisms, but it could help to encourage young people to delay their first drink."