The A-Files, Alcohol A-Z for Alcohol Awareness Month: Genetics

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Twenty-six episodes of 'The A-Files' will run throughout Alcohol Awareness Month on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Alcohologist.com andAddictedMinds.com, among other web and social media sites. Episode G looks at the genetics underlying alcohol use disorders.

Genes influence the likelihood of becoming alcoholic. The genome project identified flaws in chromosomes 4q and 11, among others, as creating a higher probability a person will be alcoholic. These flaws can be passed on through heredity – mom or dad – or the genes can be damaged from repeated alcohol use. So you can be born with a predisposition for alcoholism, or you can drink your way into the disease. That's how the disease can be both, gene-based and behavior-based.

The disease of alcoholism is far more complicated than genetics. A person even can be born with the faulty genetic package and never know it, IF he or she never drinks. Easier said than done in this culture. Our genetic factors interact with our environment. Some people are more sensitive to stress, making it harder to cope with an unhealthy relationship or a fast-paced job. Some people experience a traumatizing event and turn to alcohol to self-medicate. Those with a high genetic risk to use of any drug must first be driven by a nonhereditary factor to do it. That tipping point leading to alcohol use is usually an environmental factor, such as work-related stress.

Those with a history of alcoholism in their family have the highest risk of becoming alcoholics. If you have more than one relative with an alcohol addiction or other substance use disorder, you may have inherited the genes that put you at risk. It's worth repeating that a 2016 study mentioned in The A-Files episode on FASD, shows that fetal exposure to alcohol through mom's drinking in any trimester can increase the chance of alcoholic drinking later in life. The more family members you have with an alcohol problem, the higher the risk. But, just because someone may have a strong susceptibility toward alcoholism does not mean he or she is doomed. No one can control their genetic makeup, but everyone can take measures to prevent an addiction.

If you question the role genetics plays, think about lab rodents. A mouse or rat does not favor alcohol. They are repelled by it, in fact. So how do scientists get lab rats for their experiments? They breed them that way by tweaking the genes.
The entire 26 episode HD series is available on disc, along with fact sheets, for helping professions. See the preorder special at tr.im/AFiles

Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of CBS Sports' Power Up Your Health featuring Scott Stevens.  Another interview is on Alcohol Awareness.  Syndicated radio program Savvy Central Radio did this interview, too. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud and the first for Adding Fire to the Fuel also can be found on www.alcohologist.com. Download the FREE Alcohology app in the Google PlayStore today. Stevens also is the public relations officer with AddictedMinds.com 

The Eyes Have It: Vermont study connects eye color and alcoholism

People with blue eyes might have a greater chance of becoming alcoholics, according to a new study by genetic researchers at the University of Vermont. The work is the first to make a direct connection between a person’s eye color and alcohol dependence and appears in the July 1 2015 issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics.

The study of 1,263 genetic profiles contributes another piece of evidence that alcohol dependency has a genetic foundation. The study profiles were pulled from a database that only contains genetic profiles of people diagnosed with at least one psychiatric illness, which includes an addiction to, or dependence on, drugs or alcohol. Li and associates filtered the database for patients with alcohol addiction or dependence and European ancestry. European Americans with light eye colors, including blue, green and gray, had higher incidences of alcohol dependency than those with dark brown eyes, and that blue eyes were most strongly associated with the condition. The data showed that people with blue eyes were also more likely to have genes associated with alcohol dependence.

Previous research indicated that eye color can be associated with all sorts of specific health conditions. Recovery book, What the Early Worm Gets, also indicated human genome study results implicate flaws in chomosomes 4q and 11 in a higher risk for the disease of alcoholism and contributed to the variability of alcoholism from person to person. Georgia State University concluded fifteen years ago that people with lighter eyes consumed more alcohol. The Vermont researchers now connect eye color to higher probability of the disease.

Geneticists have also known for a while that many people of Asian descent have a different version of the aldehyde dehydrogenase, the enzyme which metabolizes alcohol. Asians commonly have dark eye coloring and have a very low incidence of alcohol dependence and the disease of alcoholism. That isn't to say there aren't alcoholics of Asian descent or that those with dark eyes won't/can't be alcoholic, only that statistically (and genetically) the prevalence is lower than light-eyed men and women of European ancestry. “These are complex disorders,” lead researcher Dawei Li says. “There are many genes, and there are many environmental triggers.”

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Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of CBS Sports' Power Up Your Health featuring Scott Stevens.  Host Ed Forteau led a discussion on risky myths of about "healthy" drinking.  Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud also can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus the NEW book, Adding Fire to the Fuel, is now available. Download the FREE Alcohology app in the Google PlayStore today.