Thinking about giving a child wine or beer during Christmas dinner? Researchers say even a "sip" could lead to toxic drinking habits as they become older.

Key points: Drinking even once as a child was associated with binge drinking in later years

Drinking even once as a child was associated with binge drinking in later years A researcher said Australia had an unhealthy approach to alcohol compared to other countries

A researcher said Australia had an unhealthy approach to alcohol compared to other countries Health authorities have revised their "safe" levels of alcohol consumption to 10 standard drinks a week

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) said it was conventional wisdom among parents that giving their underage children was a safe way to introduce them to drinking.

But the centre has published the results of an ongoing study about parental supply of alcohol — so far tracking 1,927 children from Year 7 to Year 12 — which indicated otherwise.

Amy Peacock, a senior research fellow at NDARC, said there was no benefit to supervising children's alcohol consumption and it was instead likely to increase how often adolescents drank.

"Providing alcohol, even if in the form of sips rather than full drinks, is associated with increased risks of later binge drinking and harms," Dr Peacock said.

She said even if a child drinks only once, especially when they are under 16 years old, it was more likely they would become regular drinkers in their senior years of high school.

"The sooner an adolescent is introduced to alcohol, the greater the chance they could be affected by harms like violence and serious accidents caused by drinking," she said.

"Also the greater change with an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, like binge drinking and dependence."

A University of Adelaide study in 2017 found two-thirds of 17-year-olds were casual drinkers. ( Unsplash: Yutacar )

Philip Clare, a NDARC bio-statistician and research fellow, said giving alcohol to a child engendered that child to a toxic drinking culture.

"In Australia, at least, we have quite a kind of risky binge drinking culture, particularly in early adulthood," he said.

"So you get alcohol from your parents first and then you're more likely to drink and maybe more likely to drink with your friends."

Mr Clare said Australia, like England, was more prone to binge drinking compared with, as an example, other parts of Europe where there was "low consumption".

"Many European countries [such as France] do drink quite a lot, but they don't drink in the same way," he said.

"It's almost part of the Australian identity to get drunk."

The research from NDARC comes as health authorities revised what it is considered a "safe" level of alcohol intake for the first time in a decade.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines said this week people should have "no more than 10 standard drinks per week", to reduce the health risks from alcohol.

This equates to about 1.4 drinks a day.

Dr Peacock said she welcomed the new guidelines, which also stated that drinking could affect brain development in growing adolescents.

"It's a positive step forward in educating Australians about risky and unhealthy consumption alcohol, especially for those under 18," she said.