Do Genetics Affect Alcohol Use?

Living in a household where you’re regularly exposed to parental alcohol use can also increase your chances of AUD, regardless of your genetic predisposition. Your genetics can influence how likely is alcoholism inherited you are to develop AUD, but there’s currently no evidence of a specific gene that directly causes AUD once you start drinking. If drinking alcohol makes you feel ill, you may be more likely to avoid alcohol in the first place, which can reduce the chances of developing alcohol use disorder.

• Below, we’ll investigate how big a role genetic factors play in alcohol addiction, what the other factors may be, and what you can do to reduce your risk.
• However, there are many other factors that can determine if you become an alcoholic.
• If you have a long history of drinking heavily, ask for help before you stop drinking.

The Role of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

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. In 2021, more than 46 million people in the https://ecosoberhouse.com/ United States aged 12 or older had at least one substance use disorder, and only 6.3% had received treatment. Moreover, people who use drugs are facing an increasingly dangerous drug supply, now often tainted with fentanyl. Approximately 107,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2021, and 37% of these deaths involved simultaneous exposure to both opioids and stimulant drugs. Drug use and addiction represent a public health crisis, characterized by high social, emotional, and financial costs to families, communities, and society.

• Several studies on children of alcoholics adopted by other families show that these children still have a higher likelihood of alcoholism.
• Ark Behavioral Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs.
• NIAAA reports that around half of the risk of alcoholism can be linked to genetics, meaning that the disease is considered to be at least partially hereditary and can run in families.
• Some people experience a traumatizing event and turn to alcohol to self-medicate.
• If someone has a family history of alcohol addiction but protective factors are in place, alcoholism can skip a generation.
• Alcohol may be one of the substances that can alter the expression of your genes.

Why Alcoholism Runs in Families

Some people experience a traumatizing event and turn to alcohol to self-medicate. Get professional help from an online addiction and mental health counselor from BetterHelp. Hugo Bellen, a geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, said the study “lays the foundation for a genetic approach to dissecting the acute, and possibly the chronic, effects” of alcohol in people. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) are using fruit flies to find the genetic causes of alcoholism. According to scientists, drunken drosophila fruit flies behave the same way humans do when they are drunk. In addition, a fruit fly’s resistance to alcohol appears to be controlled by the same molecular mechanism as humans.

Phenotypes/ traits to study AUD

If you or a loved one suffer from alcohol use disorder, help is available. Contact Ark Behavioral Health today to learn about our addiction treatment programs. However, while researchers have made great strides in associating certain variations of genes with AUD, the reality is that genetics, heredity, behavior, and addiction are extremely complex and often mysterious subjects. This information helps explain why drinking problems tend to run in families and why rates of alcohol abuse have historically been higher or lower in certain populations. If you’re already struggling with your alcohol consumption, there are new ways of cutting back or quitting without putting your life on hold.

Ria Health is one online program that gives you access to medications, medical support, coaching, and digital tools, all from an app on your smartphone. In other words, while alcoholism may be partially genetic, there is often much more to the story. No person is guaranteed to develop an addiction, just as nobody is completely immune to it. Studies suggests that triggers in your environment can alter the way your genes express themselves—effectively turning genes on or off. What’s even more interesting is that you may be able to partially pass these changes on. Your life experience, and that of your family, may in some ways change your DNA.

Am I at Risk of Becoming Addicted to Alcohol?

Life stressors, such as trauma, abuse, financial difficulties, or relationship problems, can lead to alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism. Individuals who experience early-life adversity are at a higher risk of developing alcohol dependence, particularly if they have a genetic predisposition. All of these genes, in combination with environmental factors, play a role in the complex risk of developing alcohol use disorder. Additional research has shown that alcoholism is more likely among individuals whose parents abuse alcohol, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that alcoholism and genetics are always to blame. For instance, parental alcohol abuse can be linked to other adverse circumstances, such as abuse, neglect and poverty.

The transparency of research, ensured by accessible journal papers, is vital in addressing the societal impacts of heavy drinking. Their studies have shown that genes like ADH1B and ALDH2 are crucial in alcohol metabolism, with specific variants more prevalent in the Asian population. This has led to groundbreaking insights into why some individuals might experience adverse reactions to alcohol, offering a protective factor against excessive consumption. After successfully completing medical detox, you’ll receive inpatient treatment in Orange County, California.

Alcoholism Risk Factors and the Evolution of the Research

• You may limit your intake to avoid developing dependence or even abstain from drinking altogether.
• A limited number of studies have explored AUD-related bulk RNA-seq gene expression in the human brain.
• Now, we enter an exciting time where genetic and environmental studies promise great strides for the understanding of our human genome and real changes in clinical care.
• In contrast, children raised in alcohol-free homes or those where responsible drinking is modeled may have a lower risk.
• RNA was extracted from AUD and non-AUD tissues, and Illumina TruSeq Total RNA Stranded RiboZero Gold was used for library preparation.

While neither genes nor environment alone can predict alcoholism, both interact in complex ways to increase or decrease a person’s risk. They include health problems like liver disease, cardiovascular issues, mental health disorders like Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, and socio-economic difficulties. Treatment for AUD often involves counseling, support groups, and sometimes medication to manage cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Alcohol is metabolized primarily in the liver, although thereis some metabolism in the upper GI tract and stomach. The first step in ethanolmetabolism is oxidation to acetaldehyde, catalyzed primarily by ADHs; there are 7closely related ADHs clustered on chromosome 4 (reviewed in20). The second step is metabolism of theacetaldehyde to acetate by ALDHs; again, there are many aldehyde dehydrogenases,among which ALDH2 has the largest impact on alcohol consumption20.