When their parents teach children to taste an alcoholic drink at a very young age, this increases their risk of binge drinking later in life by 85 percent. This is evident from Australian research reported on the website health science.be. “It seems harmless, but you better not do that,” said Marleen Finoulst in a comment on this site.
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Over a longer period, the Australian researchers surveyed 1,910 teenagers annually about their contact with and experiences with alcohol. If children had also sipped alcoholic consumption at the hands of others than their parents, the risk of binge drinking in their adolescence even doubled. In binge drinking, there is, respectively, for women and men of at least 4 and 6 glasses within two hours.
In her comment, Finoulst also points to warnings on Druglijn.be that the earlier a child starts drinking alcohol, the greater the chance of a drinking problem later on. 40 percent of children who drank alcohol before the age of thirteen are later confronted with alcohol problems. Alcohol disrupts brain growth in children and young people, which can lead to learning difficulties and reduced memory performance. It also slows down personality development.
According to Health Science.be, it is best not to drink alcohol before they are 16 years old. “It seems harmless to allow children to taste a glass of wine or beer at family parties or barbecues. Still, you better not. There is a real chance that your child will enjoy the drink and will drink more and more. That early contact with alcohol increases the risk of drinking problems in later life has been shown before. However, the real risk depends on many factors, ”says Finouls.
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