National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

News Release

Researchers Discover Alcohol-Sensitive Membrane Channel - Site found while examining ethanol's effect on potassium channels

For Release

November 22, 1999

A study reported in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience (Volume 2, Number 12, pages 1084-1090) identifies a new cell membrane channel where ethanol, the alcohol found in intoxicating beverages, may act. Neurobiologists from the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research and Section on Neurobiology, and the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, University of Texas (UT)...

Laboratory of Neuroimaging

Laboratory of Neuroimaging (LNI) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) National Institutes of Health 10 Center Drive, Room B2L124: MSC 1013 Bethesda, MD 20892-1013 Chief of Laboratory Nora D. Volkow, MD Senior Investigator , NIAAA Director , National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Phone: 1 (301) 402-0868 E-mail: nvolkow@nida.nih.gov Dr. Volkow became Director of the National Institute on...

Raising Awareness about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, also known as FASD, is a term that refers to the broad range of lifelong birth defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities that occur as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure.

Advancing Research on Women’s Health

Understanding how alcohol use and misuse impact women and developing interventions tailored to the unique needs of women

Al-Anon Interview with Dr. Kenneth Warren

In this "First Steps to Al-Anon Recovery" podcast, you will hear an interview with Dr. Kenneth Warren, Acting Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), as he discusses current alcoholism research and how it involves family members affected by someone's alcoholism. For more reasons to try Al-Anon, visit al-anon.org. Al-Anon members: Please remember to maintain anonymity...

News Release

Pediatricians Alerted to the Developmental Nature of Underage Drinking in Special Journal Supplement

For Release

April 7, 2008

In a special supplement to Pediatrics, edited and sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), physicians will have access in one place to the reviews and analyses of current research on biological, behavioral, and environmental changes during childhood and adolescence that foster the initiation, maintenance, and acceleration of illegal use of alcohol by underage youth. This...

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

Wernicke-Korsakoff (WK) syndrome is a serious brain condition that is usually, but not exclusively, associated with chronic alcohol misuse and severe alcohol use disorder (AUD).

News Release

NIH-funded scientists identify brain site for stress role in binge alcohol drinking

For Release

March 10, 2015

New research supported by the National Institutes of Health shows how elements of the brain’s stress and reward pathways can interact to suppress binge alcohol drinking. The finding, now online in the journal Nature Neuroscience, suggests potential strategies for treating and preventing alcohol use problems. “This study is an important contribution to our knowledge of the neurobiology of alcohol use...

LabTV Interview: NIAAA Intramural Research Program - Hadley Bergstrom

Hadley Bergstrom is a psychologist, studying in the Laboratory of Behavioral & Genomic Neuroscience. Hadley studies how habits and memories are formed, and is trying to better understand addiction.

News Release

Words matter: language can reduce mental health and addiction stigma, NIH leaders say

For Release

July 18, 2021

WHAT: In a perspective published in Neuropsychopharmacology , leaders from the National Institutes of Health address how using appropriate language to describe mental illness and addiction can help to reduce stigma and improve how people with these conditions are treated in health care settings and throughout society. The authors define stigma as negative attitudes toward people that are based on...

Why September is Especially Important to Alcohol Research

September is a significant month for the alcohol field for two reasons: it’s the month dedicated to raising awareness about fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and to celebrating recovery from alcohol and other substance use disorders.

NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator: Pointing the Way to Quality Care

In any given year, more than 15 million adults in the US meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder, but less than 10% of them receive treatment... What accounts for this alcohol “treatment gap?”

Table 1-1. Prevalence of substance use, abuse, and dependence among females ages 15–44, 2002–2015

Substance Use Category and Year Unweighted N (sample) Weighted N (population) Percent S.E. Substance use (past 30 days) Any drinking 2015 11,380 39,310,618 53.1 0.5 2014 10,734 40,250,529 54.8 0.5 2013 10,418 39,333,571 53.5 0.7 2012 10,509 40,129,316 54.5 0.6 2011 10,703 38,802,142 52.9 0.6 2010 11,221 38,823,400 53.3 0.5 2009 10,821 39,183,868 53.2 0.6 2008 10,646 38,745,969 52.8 0.6...

News Release

Finding May Explain Link Between Alcohol and Certain Cancers

For Release

August 3, 2005

Drinking alcoholic beverages has been linked to an increased risk of upper gastrointestinal cancer and other types of cancer. Researchers looking for the potential biochemical basis for this link have focused on acetaldehyde, a suspected carcinogen formed as the body metabolizes alcohol. In the journal Nucleic Acids Research (vol. 33, num. 11), scientists from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse...

News Release

Dr. Sandra Brown to Deliver Virtual 2020 Jack Mendelson Honorary Lecture

For Release

September 17, 2020

NIAAA grantee will discuss alcohol’s effects on adolescent development What : The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, announces that Sandra A. Brown, Ph.D., will deliver a virtual presentation of the 2020 Jack Mendelson Honorary Lecture. The title of her presentation is “Discerning Risks and Effects of Alcohol in the Midst...

Announcement

New from NIAAA: An updated Rethinking Drinking booklet and website

June 1, 2022

This article was first published in NIAAA Spectrum Volume 14, Issue 2. According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health , more than half of Americans ages 18 and older reported drinking alcohol in the past month, and about a quarter of this same group reported past-month binge drinking. To help adults who drink alcohol to better...

Researchers gain new insight into the development of severe alcohol-associated hepatitis

Thu, 03/30/2023 - 12:00

This article was first published in NIAAA Spectrum Volume 15, Issue 1. First Alcohol misuse can lead to alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH), a form of liver disease with a high short-term mortality rate in severe cases. Currently, no medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat AH, and liver transplantation is often required due to liver...

NIAAA Director's Statement before the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, March 19, 1998

Thursday, March 19, 1998

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health Statement by Enoch Gordis, M.D., Director National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism March 19, 1998 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: The FY1999 President's budget request for the NIAAA is $230,243,000, an increase of $17.5 million over the FY 1998 appropriation. Including the estimated allocation for AIDS, total...

FY 1999 President's Budget Request for NIAAA - Director's Statement Before the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies

Thursday, March 19, 1998

Statement by Enoch Gordis, M.D., Director National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism National Institutes of Health Department of Health and Human Services March 19, 1998 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: The FY1999 President's budget request for the NIAAA is $230,243,000, an increase of $17.5 million over the FY 1998 appropriation. Including the estimated allocation for AIDS, total...

ICCFASD 2024 Invited Speakers

ICCFASD Public Meeting May 9, 2024 Invited Speakers Kenneth Lyons Jones, MD , is Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and was for 50 years Chief of the Division of Dysmorphology and Teratology in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, I co-direct the Center for Better Beginnings. I am one of two physicians who first described the...

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