Diet & Lifestyle  Alcoholism

Alcohol dependency inherited?

If one or both of your parents were (or are) alcoholics, you may be more susceptible to alcoholism yourself, according to a study by the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indianapolis, USA.

Researchers now believe that of a tendency towards alcohol addiction may lie in a person's genes. Recently, two large studies have used a genome screen method to identify new genes contributing to the risk of alcoholism.

There is substantial evidence revealing the risk of alcoholism is strongly related to the genetic component and several candidate genes have been evaluated for their role in the susceptibility to alcoholism. Although with the exception of enzymes of alcohol metabolism, results from a number of the previous studies have been inconsistent.

Overall, the results from this study and those previous seem to suggest that a genetic influence is responsible for raising the vulnerability of a person to excessive alcohol use.

Source : Genetics of alcoholism: a review of recent studies. Foroud T; Li TK. Am J Addict, 8:261-78, 1999 Fall

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