USA - Alcohol Exposure In The Womb Affects 'teenage' Booze Behavior

[robin_himself]

Rats whose mothers were fed alcohol during pregnancy are more attracted to the smell of liquor during puberty. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions have shown that rats exposed during gestation find the smell of alcohol on another rat's breath during adolescence more attractive than animals with no prior fetal exposure.

Professor Steven Youngentob from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, USA, led a team of researchers who investigated the social and behavioral effects of fetal ethanol exposure in adolescent and adult rats. He said, "The findings by Amber Eade in my lab reveal that fetal ethanol exposure influences adolescent re-exposure, in
part, by promoting interactions with intoxicated peers. These results highlight an important relationship between fetal and adolescent experiences that appears essential to the progressive development of alcohol abuse."

Fetal ethanol experience is believed to train the developing sense of smell to find ethanol odor more attractive. The authors describe how, in both rats and humans, fetal exposure changes how the odor and flavor of ethanol are perceived. They write, " Such learning may be a fundamental feature of all mammalian species because it is important (from a survival standpoint) for the pre-weanling animal to accept and be attracted to the food sources consumed by the mother". In this study the authors found that rats unexposed to ethanol were significantly less likely to follow an intoxicated peer than those with gestational experience.

The authors also found that the behavioural effects of fetal ethanol were not seen in otherwise unexposed adult rats. They say that this shows adolescence is a key time for perpetuating fetal experiences. According to Youngentob, "Such a proposition is clinically relevant since, in humans, adolescence is a key transition point for emergent patterns of alcohol abuse".

Speculating further on this study's implications for human problem drinking, Youngentob added, "Within the context of 'at risk' adolescents, prior exposure to ethanol may, among other things, worsen the consequences of alcohol-related social interaction by increasing teenagers' propensity to engage in such settings".

Source

[KomodoMK]

How mothers can give their babies a taste for alcohol



Babies exposed to alcohol in the womb may be more likely to become teenage drinkers, research claims.

Scientists believe a mother-to-be's diet determines her unborn baby's sense of smell.

So youngsters who have been exposed to alcohol in the womb are attracted to its smell on the breath of other teenagers.

This in turn may increase their own chances of drinking. Researchers said that early exposure could 'worsen the consequences of alcohol related social interaction by increasing teenagers' propensity to engage in such settings'.

Although the experiments were on rats, the researchers, from the State University of New York, believe they are of clear relevance to humans.

They looked at how adolescent rats behaved when placed in a cage with other rats with alcohol on their breath.

Those exposed to alcohol in the womb were twice as likely to follow the 'drinker' rats, the journal Behavioral and Brain Functions reports.

Researcher Steven Youngentob said it appeared their sense of smell had been altered. He said the such a link was 'essential to the progressive development of alcohol abuse'.

Other research shows a first taste of alcohol before 15 sharply increases the risk of becoming a heavy drinker.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...e-alcohol.html

# Mail Online
# January 15, 2009

[cra$h]

hmmmn.... explains a lot...
but i cant believe people get paid to research this shit.... anything they can to prove kids will drink. Wanna know why teens drink? It's there. Want to know why some become alcoholics? They like it. It doesn't matter if you start drinking at 7, or 70. The odds are still relitive.