Harvard researchers have reported that alcohol abuse among teen girls and young women may increase the likelihood of developing benign breast lumps later in life.

Denise Mann of WebMD Health News reported on the study in an April 12 article:

Girls were aged 9 to 15 when the Growing Up Today Study began. They answered questionnaires from 1996 to 2001, and then again in 2003, 2005, and 2007. ...

Those participants who drank alcohol six to seven days per week were more than five times as likely to develop benign breast disease as their counterparts who abstained.

The teens and adolescent women who drank three to five days per week had three times the risk of developing benign breast disease as their counterparts who did not drink alcohol, the study showed.

Exactly how alcohol use during the teen years raises risk for benign breast disease is not fully understood, but the researchers speculate that alcohol use may increase levels of the female sex hormone estrogen, which may foster the development of benign lumps, bumps, and cysts in the breasts.

Labels: women, girls, alcohol_abuse, health_problems

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A Texas community organization, Texans Standing Tall, has found that girls in grades 7 through 12 now drink more than boys do, thanks in large part to alcoholic energy drinks.

"Energy drinks are popular among youth, including those that contain alcohol... The only difference on the can labels is the absence of nutrition facts and the appearance of an alcohol percentage. Alcoholic beverages aren't governed by the FDA..."

As of January, Anheuser-Bush had removed all of its alcoholic energy drinks from circulation, in response to a lawsuit claiming the drinks were marketed toward young people. Source: Lufkin (TX) Daily News

Labels: girls, boys, binge drinking

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Researchers with St. Louis' Washington University School of Medicine have determined that women who begin drinking at a younger age face an increased likelihood of becoming dependent upon alcohol later in life.

"An early age at the onset of drinking is a strong predictor of subsequent alcohol dependence," said Richard A. Grucza, Ph.D., who authored the study. "About one in three individuals who start drinking at age 17 or younger become alcohol dependent. For those who wait until age 21 or older, that number is one in ten."

Grucza, an assistant professor of psychiatry at WU, was quoted in a press release about the study that was posted on the school's website:

"In our previous work, we found that women born after 1944 had a substantially higher risk for alcohol dependence compared to those born prior to that. Now we have found that women born during this 'high risk' period also began drinking earlier than their predecessors, and this earlier drinking might explain the higher rates of alcoholism.

As the age of drinking onset got lower for women, the rates of alcohol dependence increased. ...There is a lot of discussion about whether the minimum drinking age should be lowered again. Our findings would suggest that from a public-health point of view, lowering the legal drinking age might lead to increased rates of alcohol dependence."

Grucza and his team analyzed data that had been compiled during the 1991-1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey and the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which was completed in the early 1980s.

The results of the study are scheduled to be published in the August 2008 edition of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Labels: girls, addiction, binge_drinking

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An entire generation of parents and educators has pushed to "open doors" for girls, working to ensure that girls have many of the same opportunities as boys. But the new-found equality extends beyond career and education into some unfortunate territory.

"Teenage girls now equal or outpace teenage boys in alcohol consumption, drug use and smoking, national surveys show. The number of girls entering the juvenile justice system has risen steadily over the past few years."

Girls simultaneously talk about feeling empowered to attend almost any college or pursue any career they wish and also feeling free to explore the "party" scene, which typically includes clubs, alcohol and drugs. Now more than ever, girls need parents who are active in their lives, helping them navigate previously uncharted water. Read more at Charlotte.com.

Copper Canyon Academy is an all girls boarding school for troubled teen girls. Their beautiful campus in Rimrock, Arizona, offers a safe, structured environment for troubled teenage girls.

Labels: girls, influences, binge_drinking

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At a national conference for substance abuse in Edmonton, Nancy Poole - a researcher for the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women urged conference attendees to begin developing programs that can meet the unique needs of women struggling to overcome addiction.

"As many as 80 per cent of women entering treatment programs also have histories of being abused or assaulted, and many use drugs or alcohol to try to cope, delegates were told."

Researchers have also found that women metabolize alcohol and nicotine differently than men. Add to that higher rates of childhood sexual abuse and violence suffered by women and the need for specialized programs becomes clear.

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Labels: girls, treatment, abuse

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