Is Alcoholism Really Hereditary?

So the eventually inevitable question: Why would God make someone genetically destined to be an alcoholic and then punish him for that?

Before answering the question, however, several points need to be addressed. First, is it really genetic? Second, does the ‘genetic’ factor make one ultimately destined to be an alcoholic or merely predisposed to it? And third, can genetic predisposition be defeated?

In 1992, Dr Stanton Peele and his colleagues refuted the idea that alcoholism was inborn in “The Truth About Addiction and Recovery”. Peele gave an example by comparing two groups of people researched by sociologists. The first comprised of Jews, Chinese and Italians; they generally view drinking as a habit and alcoholism as a self-initiated problem. This first group has the lowest rates of alcoholism and alcohol consumption.

The second consisted of Slavs, Scandinavians, Irish and Baptists who perceive alcoholism as a disease and believe that humans do not have complete control over the love for alcohol; they have the highest number of addiction and abuse cases. From the observation, Peele believed that to be or not be an alcoholic lies in how alcohol is viewed and not in the gene.

Peele continues to explain that it was also discovered from several documented studies that the majority of untreated problem drinkers reduce their alcohol intake drastically after the age of thirty. This phase, known as ‘maturing out’, is believed by experts to be most likely due to a growing sense of maturity and responsibility towards one’s family and job in addition to peer pressure as people grow older.

Had it been genetic, why would the drinking rate drop so drastically at a certain age? How does one also explain the fact that alcoholism takes a long time to develop and that it is only established after a long and repeated exposure to heavy alcohol consumption?

Peele also pointed out in his work that while it is true that children of alcoholics are two to three times more likely to become alcoholics themselves, there is a big dispute as to whether the phenomenon is genetically inherited or if it is because of environmental influence.

An interesting irony is that most children of alcoholics, Peele says according to research, are in fact non-drinkers or only consume moderate amounts mainly because of the extra caution they exercise upon seeing how alcohol negatively affected their parents. Peele claims that various studies similarly suggested that the genetic component in the subject of alcoholism is negligible and other factors such as environmental, psychological and personal choices give the final and ultimate outcome.

Peele goes on to write that Robin Murray, Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry at Maudsley Hospital in Britain, studied a group of identical and fraternal twins. Considering that the genetic makeup of identical twins is completely similar, the identical twin of an alcoholic is predicted to more likely become an alcoholic as compared to the case of a fraternal twin whose genetic makeup is no different than any other normal sibling.

The verdict showed no difference between the two groups and therefore the notion that alcoholism is genetically transmitted was doubted. Murray concluded, writes Peele, that "Students of alcoholism must continually beware lest they fall victim to the extravagant swings of intellectual fashion that so bedevil the field, and nowhere is such vigilance more necessary than in considering the possible etiological role of heredity."

Overall, the hypothesis is still highly inconclusive. No single gene has been clearly recognized as causing alcoholism or alcohol addiction. Rather, research so far vaguely points to a number of genes or a group of genes that are likely to be linked to or associated with the tendency to abuse alcohol.

Scientists are still unsure whether the genes identified are solely responsible for the drinking habit or are more related to certain types of traits that can lead to alcohol addiction such as being anti-social, being vulnerable to schizophrenia, or suffering from depression and drug addiction.

http://www.onislam.net/english/health-and-science/science/468483-the-genetics-of-alcoholism.html

http://97.105.52.213/en/artical/25044/Is-alcoholism-really-hereditary?