NCJ Number
160635
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Contrary to the beliefs espoused by Alcoholics Anonymous and the mental health establishment, little evidence exists to prove that alcoholism is a genetically inherited disease.
Abstract
Even researchers who insist that genes do play a role in alcoholism generally add that drinking is profoundly affected by a person's social and family environment and the choices one makes, which means that the popular belief that some individuals are powerless over alcohol finds very little scientific support. If genetics plays any role, it probably has to do with a person's general inclination to act impulsively in seeking pleasure. Neither have scientists found any proof that some people inherit an inability to metabolize alcohol efficiently and therefore become alcoholics. Two University of Colorado researchers reported in 1987 that people with a close relative who was an alcoholic were no different from other people "on alcohol metabolism, on sensitivity and acute tolerance to alcohol across several behavioral measures, or on perceived intoxication."