Drinking Alone Leads to Divorce—In Rodents
By Jason G. Goldman
November 19, 2017
There are more than a thousand kinds of rodents scampering about our planet, but prairie voles are special.
Unlike most, these creatures form monogamous pair bonds, and they also like to drink alcohol, features that make the North American grassland dwellers an interesting comparison to humans.
According to a study published November 17 in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, in fact, prairie vole couples have similar problems as humans when one mate hits the bottle a little too hard.
Among humans, researchers have found that heavy drinking can be rough on relationships, sometimes leading to divorce. One study found that excessive alcohol or drug use was the third most commonly reported cause for divorce in the United States.
Relationships are most likely to break down when one partner drinks heavily and the other does not, although the relationship usually stays on track if both are heavy drinkers. It isn’t clear, however, whether problematic drinking is the cause or the effect of the relationship woes.
HEAVY DRINKERS
That’s where the voles come in. To see whether alcohol consumption causes break-ups, Oregon Health and Science University graduate student Andre T. Walcott rounded up more than a hundred voles and allowed them to settle into pairs. Then Walcott supplied them with liquor.
In one third of the couples, the male was offered a 10 percent alcohol solution and a bottle of water, while the female was offered water. In the next group, both the males and the females were allowed to imbibe. A third group consisted of pairs offered only water, to serve as controls.
The voles did not ignore the booze made available to them. “These animals drink a lot of alcohol,” says neuroscientist Andrey E. Ryabinin, who oversaw the study. “In a day, they can drink [an amount] comparable to 15 bottles of wine.”
After they’d had their drink, Walcott and Ryabinin offered the males a chance to cuddle up with their partners or to spend time with a second, unfamiliar female.
The team found that males who drank alone spent less time with their original partners than the other males spent with their original partners. When partners drank together, or both abstained, they were more likely to hang out with each other.
DRINKING ALONE
The researchers also discovered that the males in discordant pairs—in which one drank and the other did not—showed different activity levels in a part of the brain called the periaqueductal gray, compared with males that had the same drinks as their mates.
“That’s interesting because it’s an area that has a lot of oxytocin receptors,” says Karen Bales, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the research.
Oxytocin is the “love hormone,” known to be involved in facilitating the bond between partners, both in rodents and humans. Exactly what this finding means, and whether it has implications for people as well, is a question for future research, says Ryabinin.
But it does suggest there may be a biological basis for the negative effects of solo drinking on relationships, beyond the impacts of alcohol exposure itself.
As for Walcott and Ryabinin, they are now hard at work on a follow-up study. This time, they will be looking at how drinking by female voles influences couple behaviour, watching to see if the effects are the same.
Medical News Today: Even Light Drinkers At Risk Of Cancer
Written by Mendon News Writer
November 18, 2017
Even light drinking could raise cancer risk, say ASCO. I enjoy the occasional glass of wine, and I wouldn’t consider this level of drinking to be harmful to my health. But it appears I’m wrong; that seemingly innocent glass of pinot could be increasing my risk of cancer.
If you think I’m being dramatic, you’re probably among the of Americans who don’t realize that alcohol consumption is a significant risk factor for .
As a writer for a medical news website, I’m well aware that drinking can . I’m also aware of the suggesting that moderate alcohol consumption has health benefits.
It’s highly likely that I subconsciously use the latter as an excuse for my occasional glass of wine: “It’s good for me, so why not?!”
But, as a from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) — which was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology — reveals, even light drinking could be putting my health at risk.
“Alcohol,” write the study authors, “is causally associated with oropharyngeal and larynx cancer, esophageal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer, and colon cancer. Even modest use of alcohol may increase cancer risk, but the greatest risks are observed with heavy, long-term use.”
ASCO’s conclusions come from a review of more than 150 studies looking at the link between alcohol and cancer.
What is more, the authors report that around 5.5 percent of new cancer cases and around 5.8 percent of cancer deaths worldwide are directly related to alcohol intake.
‘People don’t associate drinking with cancer’
Only of people in the United States are actively cutting back on their alcohol intake as a way of reducing cancer risk.
“People typically don’t associate drinking beer, wine, and hard liquor with increasing their risk of developing cancer in their lifetimes,” notes Dr. Bruce Johnson, president of ASCO. But maybe it’s time that we did.
“[…] limiting alcohol intake is a means to prevent cancer,” adds lead statement author Dr. Noelle K. LoConte, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
“The good news is that, just like people wear sunscreen to limit their risk of , limiting alcohol intake is one more thing people can do to reduce their overall risk of developing cancer.” – Dr. Noelle K. LoConte
As part of the statement, ASCO put forward some recommendations that they believe could help to reduce alcohol intake in the U.S. These include increasing the price of alcohol, raising alcohol tax, introducing stricter regulations on the sale of alcohol to minors, and incorporating alcohol control strategies in cancer prevention plans.
The statement also highlights the importance of oncologists in informing us about the cancer risks associated with alcohol intake.
“Oncology providers,” write the authors, “can serve as community advisors and leaders and can help raise the awareness of alcohol as a cancer risk behavior.”
Yes, ASCO’s recommendations could help to reduce alcohol consumption across America, but I am a firm believer that cutting back on the booze starts with oneself.
Cutting back to cut cancer risk
Earlier this year, I took part in , a public health campaign designed to encourage people to abstain from alcohol for 1 month.
I was sure that denying myself that glass of pinot would be challenging, but I was surprised at how little I missed it.
That said, my abstinence from alcohol did not last beyond 1 month, and I suspect that this was the case for many others who participated in Dry January. I was reintroduced to Mr. Pinot at a friend’s birthday party in February, and it was then that I tagged myself as a “social drinker.”
By definition, a social drinker is a person who predominantly consumes alcohol in a social setting, but not to excess levels.
If I’m honest, I can’t see myself abstaining from alcohol long-term; I enjoy a drink with my friends. However, given that even modest alcohol intake has been linked to cancer and , maybe we could all benefit from cutting back on the drink.
Cancer is one of America’s biggest health burdens. In fact, just last year, more than new cancer cases were diagnosed in the U.S., and more than 595,000 people died from the disease.
I don’t want to add to these statistics. So, the next time I’m out with friends and debating that extra drink, I’ll be asking myself, “Is that glass of wine really worth risking my health?”
If you’re looking to limit your alcohol intake, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provide some .