Isn’t science grand? The researchers at the National Institute of Jerry Springer have developed a DNA test that can identify alcoholism. Thank you TDA reader Lexie for sending in this very funny clip!
NOTE: The TDA mail has been problematic this week. I believe I have been receiving all the reader mail, but unfortunately have lost the ability to reply. I return to my home office tomorrow and will try to rectify the situation.
A recent study by researchers in Scotland suggests a correlation between children’s’ high intelligence scores and a proclivity for drinking problems in adult life.
The study assessed the association between intelligence scores of 8,170 10-year-old boys and girls and their alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems at the age of 30. The researchers found that higher average scores on childhood mental ability tests correlated with indications of alcohol problems in adulthood. ~ JoinTogether.org
Just by anecdotal observation I would think that the results of the study are credible to a certain degree. History is chopped full of writers, artists, and visionaries that seem intent on muting an overactive imagination through intoxication.
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”I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” It was a valid statement for Jessica Rabbit and in a similar manner, it may hold true for alcoholics and addicts that are hard wired for addiction. More and more research is indicating that there is a percentage of the population that has a genetic proclivity to being susceptible to drugs and alcohol with the risk substantially higher for those that begin using at an early age.
Other factors no doubt play into the addiction equation including education, environment, and support, but for many the odds are stacked against them long before they take their first drink regardless of their situation. According to Dr. Charles O’Brien, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, "For example, if 100 children are exposed to cocaine and they try it, 16 percent will become addicted, but the rest won't.”
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It is the coward and the fool who says this is his fate. But it is the strong man who stands up and says I will make my own fate. ~ Swami Vivekananda
Scientists are routinely discovering new and amazing things about our DNA and brain, the very things that make up the physiological part of “who we are what we do”. The Washington Post offered up an interesting piece today that examined how modern DNA science and its interpretation were affecting the way the court systems dealt with the accused.
Obviously DNA testing has helped tremendously in clearing suspects and indentifying the guilty but this article examines how genetic makeup may be used to suggest that a person can have biological predisposition for certain behavior and in the prediction of specific outcomes.
Naturally one of the first things I thought about while reading this article was how genetics played a role in addictions and so it wasn’t surprising to see it addressed near the end.
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Anecdotal evidence has always suggested the strong influence of genetics producing a predisposition for alcoholism and modern science is beginning to back up that data by identifying relevant DNA variants. Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine have began looking at the other side coin by studying groups that seem to have been mostly protected from the disease through natural selection.
Some change in the environment in many East Asian communities during the past few thousand years may have protected residents from becoming alcoholics, a new genetic analysis conducted by Yale School of Medicine researchers suggests.-- Countries such as China, Japan and Korea have low rates of alcoholism… specifically, the Hmong- and Altaic-speaking groups. ~ Science Daily
Notice my title though, this genetic make-up may decrease the likelihood of alcoholism, but it by no means should be considered immunity. Look no further than past TDA posts including those of Prince Tomihito of Japan, an alcoholic, and the Opium Pipe Monastery of Thailand where Hmong expatriates have been treated for opium addictions as examples that genetics provide only partial protection.
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