High estrogen levels trigger binge drinking in females, according to a new study from the United States.
Senior author Kristen Pleil, an associate professor at Cornell University, said the study found estrogen regulated binge drinking in experiments conducted on female mice, with high levels causing a consumption of large quantities of alcohol in the first 30 minutes after it was offered.
Associate Professor Pleil said the findings could lead to novel approaches for treating alcohol use disorder.
“We know a lot less about what drives alcohol drinking behaviour in females, because most studies of alcohol use have been done in males,” she said.
“Yet females, too, overindulge and are more susceptible to the negative health effects of alcohol than males.”
Associate Professor Pleil said recent studies indicated that during the pandemic lockdown, women increased their heavy alcohol consumption more than men.
She said women had many more alcohol-related hospital visits and complications than men during and since the pandemic.
“Estrogen has such powerful effects on so many behaviors, particularly in females. So, it makes sense that it would also modulate drinking.”
Associate Professor Pleil said the study involved monitoring the hormone levels throughout estrous cycle of female mice.
She said they were then served up the alcohol and it was found that when a female had a high level of circulating estrogen, she drank much more than on days when her estrogen was low.
Read the full study: Rapid nongenomic estrogen signaling controls alcohol drinking behavior in mice.
