• Heavy alcohol consumption can cause biochemical changes in the body
• Testing for specific biochemical markers is one way of establishing the likelihood of problem drinking
• Biochemical markers tend to be less sensitive for women than for men

In addition to…

• Alcoholism is known to compromise the immune system
• African-American alcoholics are at greater risk for certain infectious diseases
• African-American ethnicity, in conjunction with alcoholism, seems to signify a more compromised immune system
• These immune…

• Alcoholics have reduced levels of serotonin, a brain chemical
• Alcohol increases serotonin levels, as do carbohydrates
• Those alcoholics with high cravings for carbohydrates have a unique response to specific diets
• Carbohydrate craving may be an important clue in…

• Excessive alcohol consumption clearly has a deleterious effect on brain structure and function
• Gait and balance, followed by visuospatial abilities, show the greatest alcohol-related deficits
• Two principal neural systems, the cerebellar-frontal and the corticocortical…

• The exact relationship between alcohol use and marital aggression has been unclear
• A recent study has found that alcohol can contribute to marital violence under certain circumstances
• Alcohol seems to exacerbate marital problems when conflict already exists
• …

• Alcohol-related deaths can be classified as "natural" (disease-related) or "unnatural" (event-related)
• Nearly 29 percent of all unnatural deaths in Sweden during a five-year period were found to be associated with alcohol
• Study authors estimated that as much as 44…

• Children of alcoholics may be at risk for lower intellectual, cognitive and academic performance
• Children of alcoholics with a co-existing antisocial personality disorder may be at even greater risk
• Parental cognitive abilities and educational attainment may also…

• Numerous studies have shown a link between job stress, job strain and health outcomes
• In general, bus drivers have poorer health than workers in other occupations
• Recent findings show that some bus drivers use after-hours alcohol to cope with work-related stress
…

• Much of the human body, including the brain, is composed of water
• Sophisticated technology called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is sensitive to water in the body
• Using DTI in a new way, researchers can track water molecules in the brain to examine alcohol’s damaging…

• Adolescence is a time when many begin experimenting with alcohol
• Some adolescents binge drink, that is, drink heavily during a short period of time
• Adolescent brains may be particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol
• Binge drinking during…