Alcohol News - 47/2009

BBC News (Wales) - 'Minimum price' demand on alcohol

The availability of cheap alcohol has led to calls for minimum prices in Wales to change the drinking culture.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8373721.stm

Scottish Daily Record (Scotland) - There's no quick fix to Scotland's problem relationship with drink, says MSP

SCOTLAND has always had a complex relationship with alcohol. Too many Scots drink to excess, with devastating health and social consequences.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/2009/11/23/there-s-no-quick-fix-to-scotland-s-problem-relationship-with-drink-says-msp-86908-21843364/

Telegraph.co.uk - Moderate drinking while pregnant doubles risk of child becoming depressed

Researchers found that drinking up to a bottle of wine a week in the first trimester appeared to double the chance of a child becoming anxious or depressed. If the mother drank more than this, the risk trebled.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6630115/Moderate-drinking-while-pregnant-doubles-risk-of-child-becoming-depressed.html

MaleHealth - Healthy drinking, healthy heart - is it so simple?

Regular moderate drinking appears to lower the risk of serious heart disease by almost a third in men. Spanish men, anyway. But is alcohol the real cause?
http://www.malehealth.co.uk/userpage1.cfm?item_id=2926

Science Daily - Older Problem Drinkers Use More Alcohol Than Do Their Younger Counterparts

Older adults who have alcohol dependence problems drink significantly more than do younger adults who have similar problems, a new study has found.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120124831.htm

Xinhua (Israel) - Alcohol at "epidemic" levels among Israeli teenagers

The Israeli government has pledged to tackle what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dubbed on Sunday as the "epidemic" of adolescents drinking alcohol.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/17/content_12470925.htm

Science Daily - Intervention Can Reduce Hostile Perceptions in Children With Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been linked to a wide array of developmental deficits, including significant impairments in social skills.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119193630.htm

Earthtimes - Alcohol and obesity leading causes of fatty liver

It's tempting to eat heartily in the bitter cold of winter and the holidays seem like a perfect time to knock back a few drinks.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/295801,alcohol-and-obesity-leading-causes-of-fatty-liver.html

NEWS.com.au (Australia) - Push to raise legal drinking age above 18 under plans for booze blitz

THERE were calls to lift the legal drinking age above 18 yesterday under plans for an Australia-wide crackdown on booze-fuelled crime.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26375122-5017817,00.html

New York Times (USA) - A New View of Alcoholism

This week, Dr. Mark L. Willenbring, director of the Treatment and Recovery Research Division of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University School of Medicine, joins the Consults blog to answer readers’ questions about alcoholism.
http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/a-new-view-of-alcoholism/?scp=2&sq=Challenging%20Old%20Assumptions%20About%20Alcoholism&st=cse