@article{ref1,
title="Neonatal vitamin K might reduce vulnerability to alcohol dependence in Danish men",
journal="Journal of studies on alcohol",
year="2005",
author="Manzardo, Ann M. and Penick, Elizabeth C. and Knop, Joachim and Nickel, Elizabeth J. and Hall, Sandra and Jensen, Per and Miller, Cheryl C. and Gabrielli, William F.",
volume="66",
number="5",
pages="586-592",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Levels of oxidative defenses and blood-clotting factors are normally reduced in newborns, increasing the risk of injury to developing brain structures around the time of birth. This early neonatal vulnerability corresponds to a timeframe in which the development of reward-related limbic structures is particularly active. Taking advantage of a serendipitous event in the history of treating newborns, we tested the hypothesis that vitamin K supplementation, administered to facilitate the synthesis of blood-clotting proteins within this critical timeframe, might also reduce the development of alcohol dependence later in life. METHOD: Subjects were approximately full-term male infants, selected from a large Danish birth cohort. Two thirds of the original 330 subjects in this study were high-risk sons of alcoholic fathers; 241 of the total completed the 30-year follow-up. Of subjects reported on for this article (N = 238), 44 received vitamin K supplementation at birth; 161 were considered high risk, and 66 were categorized as having lower birth weight (<6 lbs). A comprehensive series of measures was obtained on each subject before, during and shortly after birth as well as at 1 year of age. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised, diagnosis of alcohol dependence and a measure of lifetime problem drinking served as the 30-year outcome variables. RESULTS: Vitamin K treatment, inherited risk and low birth weight each independently predicted alcohol dependence and problem drinking at age 30. Vitamin K treatment was associated with significantly lower rates of alcohol dependence and fewer symptoms of problem drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin K treatment at birth might protect against the development of alcoholism in adults by reducing early postnatal hemorrhage and oxidative brain damage.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0096-882X",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}