Children allowed an occasional sip of wine at the dinner table may be more at risk of drinking as teenagers.
Of 561 children in a US study, those given a taste of alcohol by the age of 11 were four times more likely to have been drunk or to have experienced binge-drinking by the time they were in high school.
Sips of alcohol at a young age may give young children a "mixed message", according to lead researcher Dr Kristina Jackson, from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
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"At that age, some kids may have difficulty understanding the difference between a sip of wine and having a full beer."