Finasteride, a synthetic drug used to treat male pattern hair loss and benign prostatic hyperplasia, has been shown to reduce alcohol intake in rodents. A new study, to be published in November in‘Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research‘, has also found that the majority of men who suffered sexual side effects related to the consumption of this drug, such as decreased libido and erections, simultaneously noticed a decrease in their alcohol consumption.
What is the reason for this relationship?The drug is a 5a-reductase inhibitor that blocks the production of various hormones, including androgens and other steroids that are active in both the body and the brain. Certain neuroactive steroids such as allopregnanolone help regulate brain networks involved in emotion, motivation, and cognition. And there is considerable interest in whether these neurosteroids contribute to psychiatric illness. “Alcohol is known to increase the production of neurosteroids such as allopregnanolone in animals, and these are the steroids that could be behind sedation, drunkenness, and the adverse effects of alcohol, including acute memory loss,” says Chuck Zorumski, co-author. from work.
The study participants were 83 healthy men who developed persistent sexual side effects associated with the use of finasteride, despite having stopped taking the medication for at least three months. Many of these men treated bybaldnessthey stopped drinking alcohol completely, sincedrinking affected them differently than before taking finasteride. Specifically, alcoholic beverages after treatment produced an increase in anxiety and fatigue, dizziness, intoxication with less alcohol intake and less euphoria.
Work is important becauseis the first in humans to link the clinical use of finasteride to changes in drinking patterns.
