An experimental drug that blocks the euphoric feelings associated with drinking may prevent alcoholics from relapsing. The finding, the result of a mouse study at Oregon Health & Science University, could lead to human clinical trials within the next year.

Although children of alcoholics (COAs) have a greater risk of developing alcohol-use disorders (AUDs), not all COAs will develop AUDs. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses to emotional stimuli in adolescent COAs considered “vulnerable” or “resilient” to AUDs.

Gastrointestinal bleeding can be fatal - something which is not known to many alcoholics. This was the conclusion reached by the Leipzig gastroenterologist Niels Teich and his colleagues, on the basis of a survey in the current edition of Deutsches Дrzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105[5]: 73-7).

According to a study by the research group "Alcoholism and drug addiction", of the Universidad de Granada, although there are no specific reasons to become alcoholic, many social, family, environmental, and genetic factors may contribute to its development.

Non-smoking recovering alcoholics outperform smoking recovering alcoholics on tests of memory, cognition, visual and auditory learning, and memory

For decades, recovering alcoholics and those who treat them have incorporated spirituality into the recovery process - whether or not it's religious in nature. But few research studies have documented if and how spirituality changes during recovery, nor how those changes might influence a person's chance of succeeding in the quest for sobriety.