What are the consequences of alcohol consumption in adolescence?

The population of young people and adolescents constitutes a group at high risk in the development of behaviors that are harmful to health. This is due to the fact that drug use occurs, to a greater extent, in this age group and this justifies the efforts made to identify its determinants, as well as to invest in prevention and intervention strategies.

76.9% of young Spaniards between the ages of 14 and 18 have drunk at some time in their lives and 1.6% have done so daily in the last month, according to the latest survey carried out by the Spanish Ministry of Health in 2022. However, young people rarely develop cirrhosis of the liver or other diseases related to the use of this drug, which usually appear in adults after several years of continuous alcohol use.

Does this imply that there are no consequences for alcohol consumption during adolescence?

In the short term, alcohol abuse carries the risk of suffering from alcohol poisoning and favoring risk behaviors due to its disinhibiting effect that causes a false sense of security. Rather, during withdrawal, alcohol is used to alleviate or prevent negative emotional symptoms, such as anxiety, compulsiveness, or anhedonia, that arise in the absence of the drug.

But what do we know about its long-term consequences? A study carried out by researchers from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), the Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV), the University of Oviedo and the University of Malaga, all of them in Spain, shows how alcohol acts as a depressant drug for the system Central Nervous that alters certain cognitive functions and emotional regulation.

Specifically, the voluntary consumption of alcohol in adolescent rodents “leads to changes in their behavior in the long term,” says Patricia Sampedro, a UAM researcher. The consumption of this substance “increases anxious and compulsive behaviors as reflected in some of the tests carried out on rodents after 5 weeks of alcohol consumption,” she concludes.

In addition, at the brain level, “changes occur in the expression of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), protagonists of the response of stress, in areas of the brain involved in the response to stress, emotional regulation and cognition”, explains Román Moreno, a professor at UFV.

Román D. Moreno and Patricia Sampedro, two of the study authors, in the laboratory. (Photo: Francisco de Vitoria University)

The study, carried out in adolescent mice, intended to analyze the brain and behavioral changes caused by prolonged consumption of ethanol (or ethyl alcohol) in this period, and to make a comparison with their adult stage. In this way, changes in behavior and the brain could be identified, to see if the immediate consequences have repercussions in the long-term future.

The study began by applying a protocol of voluntary alcohol consumption to a group of mice for 5 weeks in their own cage, while another group was exposed to drinking water. As the weeks passed, the alcohol concentration increased progressively, from 3% to 15% in the last week.

Once this period had passed, both groups went through 24 hours of abstinence, to later perform a test of desire to consume (craving) where each group was provided with two drinkers: one with 15% alcohol and the other with water.

The groups of mice were then divided into two groups, one that was tested on a set of cognitive and emotional tests in late adolescence, and another group that remained abstinent into adulthood, at which time the same tests were administered. .

These tests consisted of tests to analyze short-term memory, anxiety response, compulsive behaviors, or working memory, among others. Similarly, the group of adult mice, which was kept abstinent until this age, was exposed to a craving test (equal to 24 hours) showing high alcohol consumption.

Thus, this study focuses on how alcohol causes changes in brain areas involved in the response to stress, emotional regulation or cognition, and how early alcohol consumption can be related to a worse long-term prognosis.

“Alcohol consumption during adolescence produces lasting changes in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, reducing the capacity for resilience,” says Román, a researcher at the UFV Faculty of Education and Psychology.

Thus, the tests showed that working memory is also impaired especially in adolescents. “In adolescents, alcohol negatively affects the task of recognizing the position of objects (Object location test), indicating alterations at the cognitive level”, the work indicates.

In recent years, numerous scientific studies have shown the association between alcohol consumption and brain disorders in adolescents.

The lack of psychological maturity, typical of adolescence, makes it difficult to manage many sensations and effects produced by alcohol consumption, as well as the ability to detect that one has an addiction.

In addition, it seems that the adolescent brain is less sensitive to the effects of alcohol, such as the well-known morning-after hangover.

Thus, alcohol consumption among adolescents not only endangers their physical and mental integrity, but is also associated with risk behaviors related to aggressiveness, accidents, sexuality and public health. In addition, people who start consuming alcoholic beverages during adolescence are more likely to present an addiction problem when they reach adulthood.

The study is titled “Long-term consequences of alcohol use in early adolescent mice: Focus on neuroadaptations in GR, CRF and BDNF”. And it has been published in the academic journal Addiction Biology. (Source: UAM / UFV)