Alcohol Dependence Among Women May Delay Child-bearing

People who drink alcohol have been proved to develop alcohol-related problems. Recent studies, however, suggest that reproductive dysfunctions could also arise in women that depend on heavy drink, Olaotan Agboola reports.

Alcohol dependence among the populace is on the rise. No age group is left out. Teenagers (both male and female), youth, young men and women and adult, all go about sipping alcoholic drinks but little do the teenage and adult females among them know that they might be putting off their motherhood.

While the consequences may be minimal in men, a new study from the Washington University School of Medicine has suggested that both teenage and adult females who depend on heavy drink cannot only develop subsequent alcohol problems but can also develop risky sexual behaviour and experience delay in child bearing. An examination of the relationship between a lifetime history of alcohol dependence and timing of first child-birth across reproductive development has found that alcohol dependence in women is associated with delayed reproduction. It could also cause reproductive dysfunctions, including menstrual disorders, sexual dysfunctions and pregnancy complications like spontaneous abortion or miscarriage.

According to Dr. Mary Waldron, the lead researcher, alcohol dependency may lead to late child bearing as the overall effect of teenage drinking on early pregnancy. These observational findings support evidence that alcohol may damage the reproductive system over time, the researcher wrote in an issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. “Although early alcohol use is a strong predictor of future alcohol problems and adolescent drinking is associated with risky sexual behaviour predictive of early child-bearing, reproductive dysfunctions associated with delayed child-bearing have been reported in adult drinking,“ they wrote. The underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown, but may include infertility and spontaneous abortion or miscarriage, Dr Waldron’s group said.

Waldron and her colleagues gathered data from two groups of twins in Australia born between 1893 and 1964 (3,634 female and 1,880 male twins) and between 1964 and 1971 (3,381 female and 2,748 male twins). The study compared women’s and men’s lifetime history of alcohol dependence and their age when they had their first child. In both groups, alcoholic women began having babies at a later age than women who did not drink in excess. No observable difference was documented in the male study cases, leading researchers to suggest that alcoholism does not delay the outset of fatherhood in the same manner it delays motherhood, though prior studies have linked heavy or chronic consumption to lower sperm counts and impotence.

This finding that alcohol dependence has more reproduction-related impact on women than on men may be because women reach higher alcohol concentrations than men while consuming similar amounts of alcohol, the researchers suggested. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine alcohol’s effects on reproduction across reproductive development, “Dr Mary said.

“Most previous research has examined risks to teens or adults but not both. Our findings highlight a risk associated with alcohol dependence in women that is not widely recognised - a risk that has assumed increasing importance given the increased rates of alcohol misuse by women and particularly young women,“ she said.“Young women who drink alcohol want to consider the longer-term consequence for later child-bearing. If drinking continues or increases to level of problem use, their ability and/or opportunity to have children may be impaired,” she warned.

Health And Nutritional Benefits Of Cocoa

(Continued from last week)

Cocoa Prevents hypertension
Source: Professor Nonnan Hollenberg, Boston University, USA. Professor Hollenberg found that Kuna Amerindians who live on an island off the coast of Panama have unique health characteristics. The Kuna eat much salt but their blood pressures do not rise with age, and they rarely suffer hypertension. It turned out that the answer to the Kuna’s unique health characteristics lies in their habit of drinking hot lightly processed cocoa at least five times a day.

8.Cocoa drink reversed heart-related dysfunction in smokers
Source: Christian Heiss, MD, PhD, Peter Kleinbongard PhD, Andre Dejam, MD, PhD Sandra Ferre, MS, Hagen Schroeter, PhD, Helimut Sies, MD, PhD, Malte Keirn, MD Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol. 46, N07. The study was designed to assess the effects of acute consumption of flavonol-rich cocoa on endothelial dysfunction in smoker 9.The study concludes that endothelium-dependent vasodilation is significantly increased in smokers following the ingestion of flavonol-rich cocoa drink.

What in cocoa prevents heart disease?
Source: wwwghanascience.org*
It is now widely known that cocoa contains high levels of chemicals known as phenolics, which may help to lower the risk of heart disease. The bitter astringent taste of unsweetened cocoa indicates presence of the phonolics found in them. The phenolic compounds in chocolate include flavonoids, which are well known anti­oxidants that have been chemically proven to reduce oxidation, Scientific evidence has long indicated that damage done in the body by free oxygen radical (in oxidation) is linked to heart disease, certain cancers, and physical degeneration maladies associated with the ageing process, Ant-oxidants in the blood stream can help to eliminate free oxygen radicals, potentially reducing the risk of developing heart disease, certain cancers, and cerebrovascular disease.

How might the flavonoids in chocolate (or from other sources) prevent heart disease? There is evidence that flavonoids prevent fat-like substances in the blood stream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood pumped by the heart to every part of the body. The arteries that carry blood to the wall of the heart itself are most susceptible to the formation of fatty deposits that ultimately hardens them (arteries), making them less able to perform their function. The fatty deposits in the wall of the arteries are known as atheroma, and the hardening of the blood vessel is known a arteriosclerosis. It is now believed that arteriosclerosis - present to some degree in the middle-aged and elderly - is caused by oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) one of the cholesterol types. At first the atheroma causes subtle damage to the artery, but it eventually leads to the formation of advanced plague. The build up of plague can lead to the clogging of the arteries, a condition that is a major cause of heart attack.

(To be continued)