Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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Alcohol Deterrents Boost Sobriety
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THURSDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- The alcohol-deterrent drugs disulfiram and calcium carbimide helped chronic alcoholics achieve high rates of long-term abstinence, a new study found. The nine-year study of 180 chronic alcoholics found these alcohol deterrents (ADs) can help achieve an abstinence rate of more than 50 percent. "Abstinence rates were better in patients who stayed on alcohol deterrents for more than 20 months as compared to patients who terminated intake at 13 to 20 months," corresponding author Hannelore Ehrenreich, head of the division of clinical neuroscience at the Max-Planck-Institute of Experimental Medicine in Germany, said in a prepared statement. The study findings suggest that these deterrents may have a psychological, rather than pharmacological, action. "First, the longer the intake, the more likely is a patient to stay continuously abstinent even after the termination of ADs. Second, the dose of ADs is as irrelevant as the experience of a subsequent reaction for ADs to be effective. Third, sham-ADs are as efficient as disulfiram or calcium carbimide, provided that the use is repeatedly explained and continuously guided and encouraged," Ehrenreich said. Alcohol deterrents are more widely accepted and used in Europe than in North America. The findings appear in the January issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. More information The National Mental Health Association has more about alcoholism.
Last Updated: Jan. 6, 2006 |