Excessive alcohol consumption can be curbed with a pill

A recent study suggested that using a decades-old drug taken before drinking could reduce the amount of alcohol consumed.< /p>

Have you ever woken up regretting the last round the night before? There is a drug that could help.

A recent study adds to the evidence that people who drink alcohol can benefit from taking a dose of naltrexone before consuming alcohol, a finding that may be welcome now that alcohol-related deaths in the United States have topped 140,000 a year. in one session for men and more than three for women, in the previous month, according to a US government health survey.

Some may consider drinking binge drinking as harmless because the habit is widespread and a small percentage of heavy drinkers are dependent on alcohol, experts say.

But it is considered a major risk factor for alcohol-related disease and injury, and it increases the possibility of an individual developing an alcohol-related disorder.

In the study, which was published in December in the American Journal of Psychiatry, 120 men who wanted to reduce binge eating but were not severely dependent on alcohol were given naltrexone to take each times they felt a craving for alcohol or anticipated a period of heavy drinking ol.

Naltrexone, which blocks endorphins and reduces the euphoria of intoxication, has been approved in the United States for the treatment of addiction to alcohol nearly 30 years ago. But patients with more severe alcohol disorders are usually prescribed to take it daily to abstain from drinking.

The targeted approach of the new study, in which patients were advised to take the pill an hour before they expected to drink is less common, although studies dating back decades have also shown the as-needed method to be effective.

The randomized controlled trial was double-blind, so half the men received naltrexone and the other half received a placebo, and neither the participants nor the scientists did not know who had received what. Each week, participants also received advice on how to reduce their alcohol consumption.

At the end of the 12-week study, people with who received naltrexone reported bingeing less frequently and drinking less alcohol than those who received a placebo, a change that lasted for up to six months. The most commonly reported side effect of naltrexone was nausea, although it was usually mild and went away on its own as people adjusted to taking the drug.

Glenn-Milo Santos, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco and the study's lead author, said patients can discuss the treatment option with their clinicians, although not for all. "It's important in itself to raise awareness that there are effective drugs that can help people use alcohol," he said.

Taking naltrexone as needed rather than a daily dose may be more tolerable for some people as it allows their dopamine levels to recover between uses. The approach could also allow people to feel more in control of their treatment. The practice is more widely adopted in Europe, where regulators in 2013 approved the drug nalmefene for similar targeted dosing by people trying to drink less alcohol.

dr. Lorenzo Leggio, a medical researcher at the National Institutes of Health, said the latest study was "very important" because, while alcoholism treatments have traditionally been designed for people with serious addictions, many more people, like study participants, had mild or moderate alcohol problems.

Last year, N....