Day: July 6, 2021

Women are at risk of developing AUD faster than men due to differences in body mass, hormones, and metabolism. Alcohol is highly addictive and often used to self-medicate in the face of environmental and social triggers, mental health concerns and other stressors. It can create feelings of happiness and freedom, also referred to as a buzz, which allows people to temporarily escape from financial woes, stress, family issues and other struggles. For many people, drinking alcohol is also a social activity and is perceived as a way to fit in, especially while underage. Still, there isn’t one specific alcoholic gene that makes a person addicted to alcohol.

Detoxing with the assistance of medical supervision, followed by participation in a rehab program, is the best approach for an individual struggling with alcohol addiction. The gene is the main physical unit that passes inheritance from a parent to their child. “Heredity” refers to a mutation in a person’s genes that is passed from generation to generation.

What is Hereditary Alcoholism?

People who experience these effects tend not to drink, which helps protect them from developing AUD. People with a family history of alcoholism have the highest risk of struggling with alcohol use. However, environmental and social factors can increase or reduce this genetic risk. To date, GWAS have
focused on common variants, with allele frequencies of 5% or higher. Most GWAS are case-control studies or studies of quantitative traits in
unrelated subjects, but family-based GWAS provide another approach.

Based on these findings, heredity is one of the risk factors that predispose a person to AUD. Also, people who have a genetic predisposition to AUD may experience fewer or different warning signals from their body and brain when they need to stop drinking. Finally, abnormal levels of serotonin (a mood-regulating https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/dealing-with-internal-and-external-relapse-triggers/ neurotransmitter) have been linked to people who are predisposed to an AUD. A study in Sweden followed alcohol use in twins who were adopted as children and reared apart. The incidence of alcoholism was slightly higher among people who were exposed to alcoholism only through their adoptive families.

Is Alcoholism Genetic? Here’s What You Need to Know

They further concluded that different genetic factors predispose people to alcoholism. – Addiction is a chronic disease that affects the brain’s reward center, and researchers have long debated over possible genetic and hereditary contributors to addiction. Alcohol use disorder (also referred to as alcoholism or alcohol abuse) is a massive problem in the U.S. In fact – one estimate proposes that as many as 18 million adults in the country suffer from alcohol use disorder – or approximately one in 12 people.

In 2006, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) supported research that reviewed the human genome as part of an effort to identify Americans most at risk for developing an alcohol use disorder. Before this groundbreaking study, studies showed that alcohol abuse runs in families, but it could not point to the genetic basis of this finding. The study was possible because the Human Genome Project (2003) was able to identify every gene that exists in human DNA. When it comes down to it, the environmental elements of growing up with an alcoholic parent are just as impactful, if not more, than genetic predisposition. However, even those with a high genetic risk to substance abuse must first be driven by a nonhereditary factor to do it.

Peer Support

The journal Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology reports that several genes have been isolated as potential contributors to the hereditary nature of alcoholism. In the study of complex disorders, it has become apparent that quite
large sample sizes are critical if robust association results are to be
identified which replicate across studies. Unfortunately, studies of alcohol
dependence have not yet attained these sample sizes. Meta-analyses, which
combine results across a number of studies in order to attain the critical
sample sizes needed, are being developed. Environmental factors, as well as gene and environment interactions account for the remainder of the risk. Addiction therapy specialists recognize that substance abuse is a disease.

However, unlike with other hereditary conditions, the predisposition does not translate into inevitability. Social and cultural influences can weigh just as heavily as genetic makeup in your decision to use drugs. Growing up around family members and close relatives that suffer from alcoholism increases the risk of alcohol abuse for generations to come. When you’re surrounded by people who drink excessively, you can look at alcohol use differently and fall victim to bad habits.

Mitigating Risks of Alcoholism Despite Genetics

If you are in doubt, here we can help you answer some questions and find out if you need to start your recovery journey. One reason people don’t seek treatment earlier on is that both alcohol problems and treatment remain stigmatized in our society. Other barriers are that the person doesn’t believe that their problem is serious enough to need treatment. If you are concerned enough is alcohol abuse hereditary to be reading this, or if you have a family member that’s an alcoholic, the problem is serious enough. Genetic studies can only help predict a propensity for alcoholism and can help in preventing the disease if you are aware of your risk. AUD is correlated to lower intelligence and the likelihood of quitting smoking and a greater risk of insomnia and most mental health disorders.

Therefore, genes alone do not determine whether someone will develop AUD. Environmental factors, as well as gene and environment interactions, account for the remainder of the risk. That being said, over the years, much research has been done to understand the potential genetic link to addiction and alcoholism, and why it seems to run in some families and not others.

It only hasn’t been until the recent generation when mental health has become a more serious, treatable issue. This can cause people to self-medicate with drinking, and as children develop their own mental health issues, they may repeat the same coping behaviors. Is there any scientific evidence that your genes may predispose you to become an alcoholic if your parents or grandparents are? While many studies have been done and experts agree that there is a hereditary connection, genetics is not the only factor and we don’t quite know the full impact it has on alcoholism. As it relates to alcoholism, genes, environment and social interaction can all affect a person’s risk level for alcohol addiction.

• Those who have mental illnesses, especially anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia are very likely to struggle with co-occurring alcohol use disorder.
• How exactly a phenotype is expressed is complicated – for example, a person with one parent with green eyes and one parent with brown eyes has genes for both colors – yet usually, only one color will be expressed.
• They received the nickname “long sleepers.” The “short sleepers” were the mice that were less sensitive to alcohol.
• However, scientists also argue that genetics play a significant role in the risk of developing alcoholism and the likelihood of hereditary effects.