A new alcoholism study reveals that binge drinking before the legal drinking age can set a life-long precedent for one’s alcohol tolerance. “We know that adolescence is a vulnerable time,” notes Dr. Nicole L. Schramm-Sapyta from Duke University Medical Center. “Our key finding is that drinking patterns may be established after only a few exposures to alcohol. Rats that demonstrated a ‘taste’ for alcohol after only three nights of drinking were very likely to be the biggest drinkers after longer-term exposure.” In the government-funded study, 28-day-old rats were given a choice between water and alcohol.

The biggest drinkers on day three were consistently the biggest drinkers throughout the ten day duration of the study. Even after being deprived from alcohol for two days, once it was returned, the rats chose it again. “Early exposure to alcohol may initiate a pattern of heavy drinking and increased vulnerability to relapse,” researchers concluded.

“Alcohol can change gene expression in the brain. This is believed to be responsible for many of the hallmarks of addiction, such as tolerance, physical dependence and cravings, as well as the consequences of chronic alcoholism, such as neurotoxicity (brain damage),” said Dr. R. Adron Harris, director of UT Austin’s Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research.

Just as a computer virus corrupts the system, alcohol consumption can also tinker with proteins and regions of the brain, leaving its mark. In his study, he found that 163/4,000 brain tissue genes (4%) were found to differ by 40% or more between alcoholics and non-alcoholics. The genes most susceptible to change were the sensitive “white matter” called myelin. Myelin is the insulation between the brain’s information-carrying cells, which would explain why cognitive deficiency is one of the effects of alcohol.

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