Paediatricians can reduce future alcohol-related morbidity and mortality

In the UK, the legal drinking age at home is 5 years, and a significant proportion of parents here and in other European countries allow and even encourage their young adolescents to drink alcohol, believing that it will teach them responsible use or inoculate them against harmful drinking and dependency. The attitudes, practices and policies regarding alcohol initiation and consumption by children and parents across the world today may contribute to a broad range of negative health outcomes throughout a child’s lifespan, much of which are preventable, starting from childhood.1 Neuroadaptations, neoplastic transformations For example, delaying the age at which children and young people take their first drink, including small sips, may lower their risk of becoming problem drinkers now and later in life.1–3 Also, the mechanisms are becoming clearer: preclinical research suggests that introducing children and adolescents to alcohol...
Source: Archives of Disease in Childhood - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Press releases Viewpoint Source Type: research