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Natural Recovery by the Liver and Other Organs After Chronic Alcohol Use
A vast body of evidence from human studies and animal research clearly indicates that chronic, heavy alcohol consumption causes structural damage and/or disrupts normal organ function in virtually every tissue of the body. In heavy consumers of alcohol, the liver is especially susceptible to alcohol-induced injury.1,2 Additionally, several other organs—including the gastrointestinal...
Alcohol and the Adolescent Brain: What We’ve Learned and Where the Data Are Taking Us
The past 50 years of research supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have resulted in an accumulation of invaluable data to address the multifaceted problems surrounding underage drinking. Youth use of alcohol remains a pervasive social and public health concern in the United States and a leading cause of disability and mortality during...
Alcoholic Liver Disease: Pathogenesis and Current Management
The Gastrointestinal Microbiome: Alcohol Effects on the Composition of Intestinal Microbiota
It has been estimated that approximately 2 billion people worldwide drink alcohol on a daily basis, with more than 70 million people having a diagnosed alcohol use disorder (World Health Organization 2004). Globally, alcohol use is the fifth leading risk factor for premature death and disability among people between the ages of 15 and 49 (Lim et al. 2012). Excessive alcohol consumption in the...
Alcohol Use As a Risk Factor in Infections and Healing: A Clinician's Perspective
Alcohol use and misuse have been part of human society for centuries. Early physicians recognized since the 1800s that alcohol produced not only impairment of the senses but also higher predisposition for tuberculosis. William Osler, the father of scientific medicine, reported in 1905 that patients who misused alcohol had higher predisposition to pneumonia (Osler 2001).
Between 2006 and 2010 in...
NIAAA 50th Anniversary Festschrift: From the Editor
NIAAA’s 50th anniversary is truly a highlight in the history of public health. More than 5 decades ago, a group of researchers, advocates, and elected officials made a farsighted decision when they pushed for the creation of a federal institution dedicated to research that improves the lives of millions of Americans and their families devastated by alcohol misuse. As a result, on...
Long-lasting changes in synaptic function (i.e., synaptic plasticity) have long been thought to contribute to information storage in the nervous system (Kandel et al. 2014; Lovinger 2010). Studies combining behavioral and physiological analyses offer strong evidence supporting this hypothesis (Kandel et al. 2014; Ramirez et al. 2014). On the one hand, this plasticity allows the organism to adapt...
The Synaptic Interactions of Alcohol and the Endogenous Cannabinoid System
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing brain disorder, characterized by a compromised ability to control alcohol use despite adverse occupational, social, or health consequences. Results from a 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 5% of individuals over age 12 had AUD, affecting 14.5 million people in the United States. Alcohol and cannabis products are...
Abundant cross-sectional data indicate that alcohol use and related problems are accompanied by disruptions to sleep and circadian rhythms.1 Alcohol's negative impacts on sleep are well established, especially in adults, and a smaller body of literature also reports alcohol's disruption of circadian rhythms.2-4 Growing evidence supports sleep and circadian factors as influencing...
Hepatic Cannabinoid Signaling in the Regulation of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease
The prevalence of alcohol use disorder has been steadily rising around the world in recent years, and reducing the burden of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) caused by chronic alcohol consumption has become one of the most important global health issues.1,2 Excessive alcohol drinking (more than 40 g of pure alcohol per day) is closely associated with increased risk of all-cause...
