National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Note: This document is an archived feature. View the Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2024-2028 at https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/about-niaaa/strategic-plan-fiscal-years-2024-… As scientific advances continue to expand our understanding of how alcohol affects human health and point to new ways to address alcohol-related harm, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has released its 2017-2021 strategic plan for research. The new plan serves...

New preclinical research reported in animal models shows that exposure to compounds found in marijuana called cannabinoids (CBs), which includes cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), during early pregnancy can cause malformations in the developing embryo. The research also demonstrated that co-exposure to CBs and alcohol increased the likelihood of birth defects involving the face and brain. The study, funded by...

The National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) convened for its 129th meeting at 5:00 p.m. on February 8, 2012, at the Fishers Lane Conference Center in Rockville, Maryland, in closed session for a review of grant applications, Merit Award nominations, and a Merit Award extension. The meeting recessed at 6:40 p.m. The Council reconvened in closed session...

Strategies recommended by the Surgeon General to reduce underage drinking have shown promise when put into practice, according to scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. These approaches include nighttime restrictions on young drivers and strict license suspension policies, interventions focused on partnerships between college campuses and the community...

Alcohol and your health - where do you draw the line? This is the theme of the 2002 National Alcohol Screening Day, a program of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Screening for Mental Health, Inc., and their partners. Free, anonymous screening for alcohol problems, information on the health consequences...

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism today announces a 5-year prospective study on the role of alcohol use and abuse in determining patient outcomes for aging veterans with and without HIV infection. The study is an expansion of the ongoing Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS), initiated in 1999 and supported by a number of NIH components including the...

Reporting in today's Early Edition of the August Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University describe a novel approach that may help scientists to better understand how alcohols and anesthetic drugs interact with certain brain proteins. The report also provides the strongest evidence to date that alcohols have specific...

Harvard Medical School and Veterans Administration researchers report in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that certain long-chain alcohols can block harmful effects of short-chain alcohols including ethanol (beverage alcohol) on nerve cell growth and development. "The findings may lead eventually to medications that reduce the damaging effects of alcohol in both fetal development and in adults," said...

En Estados Unidos, y en todo el mundo, los hombres beben más alcohol que las mujeres. Sin embargo, un análisis reciente, realizado por científicos del Instituto Nacional sobre el Abuso del Alcohol y el Alcoholismo (NIAAA, por su sigla en inglés), perteneciente a los Institutos Nacionales de la Salud, indica que la proverbial diferencia entre hombres y mujeres en cuanto...

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...

An online alcohol prevention course can help reduce harmful drinking among college freshmen, but the benefits in the fall don’t last through the spring, according to a study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Led by Mallie J. Paschall, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Pacific Institute for Research...

A family-based prevention program designed to help adolescents avoid substance use and other risky behavior proved especially effective for a group of young teens with a genetic risk factor contributing toward such behavior, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug...

Data from a recent epidemiologic survey of more than 43,000 U.S. adults show that antisocial syndromes-marked by little concern for the rights of others and violations of age-appropriate societal rules-are more common among people with substance abuse disorders than those without these disorders. The study by researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and National Institute on Alcohol...

The harm caused by alcohol consumption among college students may exceed previous estimates of the problem. Researchers report that unintentional fatal injuries related to alcohol increased from about 1,500 in 1998 to more than 1,700 in 2001 among U.S. college students aged 18-24. Over the same period national surveys indicate the number of students who drove under the influence of...

In an article appearing in the May 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), addiction researchers at the National Institutes of Health compared marijuana use in the U.S. adult population in 1991-92 and 2001-02. They found that the number of people reporting use of the drug remained substantially the same in both time periods, but the...

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), today kicked off a major collaborative study that will investigate ways to screen, identify, and treat patients in hospital emergency departments for alcohol problems. Academic emergency medical departments (EDs) at 14 institutions throughout the U.S. will participate in the study, the...

NIH-funded research examined over 6,000 children to determine prevalence of FASD ranged from 1.1 to 5 percent A study of more than 6,000 first-graders across four U.S. communities has found that a significant number of the children have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), with conservative rates ranging from 1 to 5 percent in community samples. The new findings represent more...

NIH-funded study in mice merits further investigation as a potential treatment A specific strain of a common bacteria found in most people with alcoholic hepatitis correlates with greater liver disease severity and mortality, according to a new study published in Nature. Alcoholic hepatitis is a serious form of alcohol-associated liver disease, and people with it have high levels of the...

New preclinical research in rats has identified a link between adolescent alcohol exposure and specific molecular changes in the brain that contribute to increased anxiety in adulthood. A large body of evidence demonstrates a strong relationship between alcohol and anxiety problems in humans. "These findings provide insight into the mechanisms through which alcohol-induced brain changes during adolescence increase vulnerability to...

Observance helps teens dispel myths about substance use March 23, 2020— National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® (NDAFW) marks its 10th anniversary March 30 through April 5, 2020, encouraging communities around the country to SHATTER THE MYTHS® about substance use and addiction. NDAFW is a joint initiative of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on...