Drinking at Young Age Can Lead to Alcohol Addiction

At the University of Washington, an experiment was conducted to find out how drinking at young age could lead to alcohol addiction and influence decision-making abilities negatively later in life. Here is the experiment which was conducted in a time span of 20 days:

1. Researchers injected gelatin shots of alcohol in a group of young aged rats whereas another group of rats belonging to the same age group were treated with nonalcoholic treats.
2. After few weeks when the young rats became adult, the rats were given two choices of food after performing respective activity. A lever was provided which if pushed, it threw out two sugary treats and there was another level which when pushed allowed the rats to access four yummy pellets or no food.
3. The rats that were given gelatin shots of alcohol could not make a rational decision and ended up pushing the lever that provided them with no food.
4. The rats that were given nonalcoholic treats consistently pushed the lever that gave them access to food.

Since the experiments were carried out to learn the affects of alcohol on human teens and adolescents, it was concluded that early abuse of alcohol in life can lead to bad decisions in life when they attain adulthood.

The area present in the brain that is responsible for decision-making keeps on developing during adolescence to adult age. This is the reason why alcohol consumption at young age can influence the ability to make constructive decision later in life. The brain of a teen can get influenced permanently due to consumption of alcohol.

Dr. Karen Norber who had carried out the experiment advised that if the frequency and intensity of alcohol consumption during the young age can lead to long-term effects when they drink alcohol in their adulthood.

Alcoholism can be cured. To learn more about alcohol drug treatment, non 12 step drug rehab and drug rehabilitation call now and get a FREE phone consultation!