Those cigarettes may be driving you...

Those cigarettes may be driving you to drink more.

A fresh study done on rats point out tos that nicotine can actually restore blood alcohol concentrations and thus lead to heavier drinking.

"Since the desired force of alcohol is significantly diminished by way of nicotine, particularly among heavy or binge drinkers similar as college students, this may encourage drinkers to drink more to achieve the pleasurable or desired effect" said Wei-Jung Chen, an associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in society Station, Texas, and lead author of the reflection published in the August issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Researchers administered a range of nicotine doses adjusted for corpse weight along with an alcohol dose delivered either directly into the stomachs or the abdominal cavities of female rats. The offspring alcohol content was measured against the nicotine doses.

Chen said it was clear the carriage of nicotine significantly reduced peak house alcohol content, but this was merely observed when the booze went into the stomach, not when it was injected into the abdomen.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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