Around six in 10 young people aged 11 to 15 in England consume alcohol, a proportion that has remained relatively stable for 20 years.
However, rates of teenage binge drinking have soared in recent years.
Teenagers drank an average of six units of alcohol per week in 1994 and 13 units in 2007.
A unit of alcohol is roughly equivalent to half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.
Each year some 5,000 teenagers in the UK are admitted to hospital for alcohol-related reasons.
Teenage alcohol abuse is linked to poor brain development, future health problems, and risk taking and antisocial behaviour, the scientists pointed out.
People seek out situations which fulfil their sense of reward and make them happy, so if your brain is wired to find alcohol rewarding, you will seek it out.
We now understand the chain of action: how our genes shape this function in our brains and how that, in turn, leads to human behaviour.
We found that the RASGRF2 gene plays a crucial role in controlling how alcohol stimulates the brain to release dopamine (a nerve signalling molecule), and hence trigger the feeling of reward.
So, if people have a genetic variation of the RASGRF2 gene, alcohol gives them a stronger sense of reward, making them more likely to be heavy drinkers.
– Lead scientist Professor Gunter Schumann at King's College London
The number of people suffering from liver disease is on the increase in England while in other European countries it is decreasing, health experts said.
The UK's chief medical officer (CMO) Professor Dame Sally Davies said that obesity, undiagnosed hepatitis infections and harmful alcohol use are among the causes for the rising tide of disease.
Science and Medical Editor Lawrence McGinty reports:
These figures underline the urgent need for a 50p minimum unit price for alcohol, which would hit younger drinkers and heavy drinkers, while not greatly affecting moderate drinkers.
– Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians
Alcohol abuse is one of the greatest threats to public health in this country and it can only be tackled by robust regulation of the industry, along with a minimum unit price to prevent binge drinking.
– Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary at the Royal College of Nursing
UK chief medical officer warns of liver disease threat
I have done a comprehensive analysis of the state of the country's health, and found some areas where we are doing really well and others where there is still a lot of improvement needed.
I was struck by the data on liver disease particularly. This is the only major cause of preventable death that is on the increase in England that is generally falling in other comparable European nations. We must act to change this.
The number of people suffering from liver disease is on the increase in England while in other European countries it is decreasing, health experts have said.
Between 2000 and 2009, deaths from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in the under 65s increased by about 20% while they fell by the same amount in most EU countries, according a new report by the CMO.
Obesity, undiagnosed hepatitis infections and harmful alcohol use are among the causes for the rising tide of liver disease, experts have warned.
Alcohol use is among the causes for the rising tide of liver disease, experts have warned Credit: PA Wire
The UK's chief medical officer (CMO) Professor Dame Sally Davies has said that the public needs to have a better awareness about liver health as the three major causes of liver disease are all preventable.
3.5 million children in the United Kingdom are said to be living with a binge drinker Credit: DaybreakThat's one in three children in the UK Credit: Daybreak460,000 children live with a single parent who's a binge drinker Credit: Daybreak
