Research finds teens have a significantly higher risk of developing alcohol abuse or risky sexual behaviour as a young adult, even when they are known to drink only small amounts of alcohol.

These study findings cast doubt on the national guidelines suggestion of 'low risk' level of drinking for under-18s, providing evidence of a move away from our 'harm minimisation' approach to teen drinking, with experts saying it could even fuel a campaign to raise the legal age of drinking.

The Murdoch Children's Research Institute team in Melbourne says, they tracked the drinking habits of 1520 young people for over 10-years for their study, from the mid-teens showing there was no safe or sensible drinking level for adolescents.

The National Health and Medical Research Council official guidelines defining a low risk level of drinking for adults i. e. fewer than three standard drinks a day found that even at this level, teenagers raised their chances of alcohol abuse, social / legal problems, or alcohol-related high-risk sexual behaviours, 10 years later.

The study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health last week, found by young adulthood, 27% of men and 13% of women, met at least one of the criteria for alcohol abuse and risky sexual behaviour connected with alcohol use, showing a clear linear trend that boys who drank in their teen years, were more likely to develop alcohol-related problems as young adults.

However, the trend for girls less clear, more a failure of the research method rather than evidence that girls more than boys are able to drink at safe levels without long-term effects.

The safest option according to Australia's official guidelines is to drink no alcohol below the age of 18.