National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a naturally-occurring brain molecule that helps regulate emotional behavior, stress responses, and other functions. Much research evidence suggests that NPY also plays an important role in regulating alcohol consumption. Scientists led by NIAAA Clinical Director Markus Heilig, M.D., Ph.D., recently investigated the effect of NPY on stress-induced relapse to alcohol use. Relapse prevention is an important...

Open Session of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. View the Agenda. Subject to change; a final agenda will be posted closer to the date of the event.

An experimental compound empowers an enzyme to help process acetaldehyde, a toxic metabolite of alcohol, according to new research supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The findings, now online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), might lead to new treatments to help people with impaired ability to metabolize acetaldehyde and other...

April is Alcohol Awareness Month – a good time to learn more about how alcohol use impacts your health and examine your own drinking habits. Bring your health-related questions and come chat with an NIAAA expert. Date: Tuesday, April 28, at 1 p.m. ET. Hashtag: #NIAAAchat

Findings also endorse use of NIAAA youth screening guide A single screening question about drinking frequency in the past year could help doctors identify adolescents at risk for alcohol problems, according to a new study funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Conducted by researchers at the University of...

A genetic variant of a receptor in the brain’s reward circuitry plays an important role in determining whether the neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the brain following alcohol intake, according to a study led by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Dopamine is involved in transmitting the euphoria...

People who drink more are also likely to eat less fruit and consume more calories from a combination of alcoholic beverages and foods high in unhealthy fats and added sugars, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The study...

A variant of a gene involved in communication among brain cells has a direct influence on alcohol consumption in mice, according to a new study by scientists supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Army. Scientists do not know yet whether a similar gene variant...

Relapse to uncontrolled drinking after periods of sobriety is a defining characteristic of alcoholism and is often triggered by stress. A new study in rats reports that a specific receptor for a stress-response transmitter may play an important role in stress-induced relapse. The study, a collaboration between scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of...

Chat with NIAAA experts about the latest in blood alcohol monitoring technology and our $200,000 challenge to design a better wearable alcohol biosensor. # AlcoholBiosensor

This issue of ARCR, Alcohol and the Immune System,reviews a broad range of immune-relevant alcohol research, detailing how alcohol-induced disruption of immune pathways can impair the body’s ability to defend against infection, contribute to organ damage associated with alcohol consumption, impede recovery from tissue injury, and potentially contribute to alcohol use disorder among other issues. You can access the full...

NIAAA-supported researchers at the Duke University and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Centers continue to refine our understanding of how repeated exposure to alcohol during adolescence causes long-lasting structural and functional abnormalities in the brain. Earlier this year, Duke scientists led by Dr. Mary-Louise Risher looked at how alcohol affects the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with memory and...

Please join NIAAA and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (@ASAMorg) for a Twitter Chat on adolescent alcohol screening and the findings of a new study in the Journal of Addiction Medicine https://bit.ly/2UHm3Mc. #AlcoholChat

The latest article from Alcohol Research Current Reviews explores links between alcohol use and suicidal behavior. Research on associations of suicidal behavior, including suicide and suicide attempt, with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and acute use of alcohol (AUA) are discussed, with an emphasis on data from meta-analyses. Based on psychological autopsy investigations, results indicate that AUD is prevalent among individuals...

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) announced the 10th annual National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® (NDAFW), will take place March 30 through April 5, 2020. NDAFW is a week of educational events that annually brings together teens and scientific experts to SHATTER THE MYTHS® about substance use and...

Based on guidance by NIH regarding COVID-19, the CHAT DAY scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2020 has been cancelled. Please stay tuned - we will connect with all registrants about the next chat day opportunity. You can still access the 2019 transcript to see if your questions were answered.

On September 23 and 24, 2008, the Work Group on Women, Drinking, and Pregnancy of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (ICCFAS), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the American Legacy Foundation (Legacy), a nonprofit health organization dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit, collaborated and hosted...

Kathy Jung, Ph.D., Mark Egli, Ph.D., Gary Murray, Ph.D. Reissuance of PAR 17 170 Alcohol Research Resource Awards (R24, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) Purpose The purpose of the Resource-Related Research Projects (R24, clinical trial not allowed) grant mechanism is to support investigator-initiated research resource projects that will provide resources to other investigators who conduct biomedical research appropriate to the mission...

Gregory Bloss, M.A., M.P.P./ Program Director, Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research Acquisition Type/Actions The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) requests approval from the NIAAA Advisory Council to allow Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International to submit a contract proposal in response to a sole-source request for proposal. This acquisition, for other than full and open competition, is...