The question of parents, children, and drinking alcohol at home is one with which parents often wrestle. Other cultures can suggest an answer, but ultimately parents must decide what’s best for their children. Many parents intuitively recognize what has long been understood by some groups. They include Italians, Greeks, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, Jews and many others These groups drink frequently but have few alcohol-related problems. They know that drinking at home with parents is the… Read more

The Maryland Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition summarizes the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. It does so as follows. “The legal age for alcohol in the USA is 21 years old. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public possession of alcohol age to 21. States that did not comply faced a reduction in highway funds under the Federal Highway Aid Act. The U.S.… Read more

A fairly new approach to reducing alcohol abuse is social norms marketing. Some prefer to call it social norms clarification. It’s effective, but not without its detractors. Here we look at criticisms of social norms marketing. But first, here’s a quick look at social norms clarification. Social Norms Marketing Social norms clarification is based on a simple set of facts. Virtually all students have greatly exaggerated beliefs about the extent of drinking and alcohol abuse… Read more

Iain Murray argues here that alcohol abuse “guesstimates” aren’t statistics. Therefore, we shouldn’t treat such guestimates as if they were.   If every night is party night on college campuses, a new study warns of serious problems for students. Researchers at Boston University charge that their alcohol use kills over 1,400 students annually. Their report also claims that over 600,000 students a year are assaulted by other students who have been drinking. Additionally, over 70,000… Read more

How can we reduce alcohol-related problems. One important way is to teach safe alcohol drinking to young people. I. Goal: Fewer Alcohol Problems Many societies and groups have successfully prevented alcohol problems. That is, they widely and daily drink. Yet they have few alcohol problems. We can use their techniques both in our families and in our society.  Thus, we could reduce the abuse of beer, wine, and distilled spirits. We seem to be a… Read more

Millions of people suffer from dementia. It’s a cruel disease for both the victims and their loved ones. Fortunately, there’s much scientific evidence that drinking alcohol lowers dementia risk. The following study found the decrease to be much lower… The Study Researchers studied 3,069 community-living adults. They were aged 75 years and older without dementia when enrolled. At the start of the study, 2,587 were cognitively normal. A total of 482 had mild cognitive impairment… Read more

Is drinking in pregnancy beneficial to the children born? Could light drinking actually help children? If so, should pregnant women drink a little? The Research Researchers used a nationally representative sample of infants born in the UK. The infants were part of the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study. That project followed the health of children born in a two-year period. The study analyzed 12,495 three-year-old children. The Results Children born to mothers who drank light amounts of… Read more

Drinking alcohol and cancer of the penis concerns many men. However, alcohol  and penile cancer are not related. That is, drinking alcohol does not increase the risk of getting the cancer. After analyzing the research evidence, that is the conclusion of major health groups. They include the National Cancer Institute,  Cancer Research UK, American Cancer Society, and American Society of Clinical Oncology. Risk Factors Anything that increases the chance of getting a disease is a risk factor.… Read more

Cancer of the prostate gland is the most common form of cancer in men in the US. In fact, almost 200,000 men are diagnosed with the disease each year. Therefore, the subject of drinking alcohol and prostate cancer risk concerns many men. A number of medical organizations have carefully analyzed the medical research evidence. They include the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the Mayo Clinic. They… Read more