A recent study summarized inScienceDailyof September 12, 2013, to be published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, sheds some light on hangovers and how they differ in drinkers as they age. The researchers looked at alcohol use in a pool of over 50,000 individuals ages 18 to 94, and found that the incidence of hangovers in binge drinkers was greater in younger drinkers and decreased in older binge drinkers.

There was no attempt in this study to to see if there is a connection between hangover incidence and development of alcoholism. However, prior research has found that individuals who develop alcoholism often do not experience the physical ill effects of excessive drinking such as hangovers. The suggestion is, therefore, that drinkers at a young age who do not have severe hangovers after drinking to excess are more at risk for alcoholism.

My own experience of almost 25 years of working with young adults aged 18 to 21 is that individuals with a history of alcoholism in a blood relative, such as a parent or grandparent, almost invariably will have an inherently high tolerance for alcohol, rarely get sick no matter how much they drink, and have mild hangovers. These individuals probably have a genetic predisposition to develop alcoholism and are at a four to six times greater risk to develop alcoholism.

As always, comments are invited. Jan Edward Williams, www.alcoholdrugsos.com, 09/14/2013.