Those who drink in excess of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines (i.e., men who usually drink more than two drinks per day or women who usually drink more than one drink per day) or those who binge drink are at increased risk for the metabolic syndrome, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Drinking more sugar-sweetened beverages or eating fewer fruits and vegetables both may be associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas eating a low-fat diet does not appear to be associated with any change in diabetes risk, according to three reports in the July 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

One in every two pregnant Australian woman still consume alcohol during pregnancy, according to a study in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The responsibility of providing accurate information about the harmful effects of alcohol and its lifelong effects on the child falls on obstetricians and other health professionals.

Commercial venues are very aware of the effects that the environment – in this case, music – can have on in-store traffic flow, sales volumes, product choices, and consumer time spent in the immediate vicinity.

One of the most comprehensive studies on the minimum drinking age shows that laws aimed at preventing consumption of alcohol by those under 21 have significantly reduced drinking-related fatal car crashes.

Alcoholic threshold effect rather than a dose-response effect on mortality from alcohol-related liver injury. Alcohol intake, rather than the type of alcoholic beverage, was more significant to liver injury.

People are being urged to think before they drink as part of a research project aimed at changing people's binge drinking habits.

A 2001/2002 report by the World Health Organization found that, among young people in western countries who began drinking before 16 years of age, the average age of initiation was 12 years of age. A new twins study from the Netherlands has found that genetic factors appear to be involved in the early initiation of alcohol use, while common environmental factors become involved once alcohol use has begun.

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have shown a connection between early drinking patterns and a tendency to be a heavy drinker in adulthood, in a study of adolescent rats.

The influence of genetics increases as young women transition from taking their first drink to becoming alcoholics. A team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that although environment is most influential in determining when girls begin to drink, genes play a larger role if they advance to problem drinking and alcohol dependence.

Heavy drinkers and heavy smokers develop Alzheimer’s disease years earlier than people with Alzheimer’s who do not drink or smoke heavily, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008.

A new study conducted by a group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of South Carolina suggests that a smoking ban has a direct link with drunk driving fatalities.