Early Weaning May Contribute to Alcohol Abuse as an Adult

According to a longitudinal study just published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, early weaning may predict alcohol abuse later in life. The cohort comprised 6,562 Danish men and women born between 1959 and 1961. Scientists checked the Danish Psychiatric Central Register for incidences of alcohol-related hospitalization among the cohort, and found that those who had been breast-fed for a shorter time were significantly more likely to have been hospitalized for alcohol abuse. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and unwanted pregnancies were also strongly correlated to later alcohol abuse, but the relation between early weaning and alcohol abuse was significant independent of other tested risk factors. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/4/704