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Scientists' alcohol brainwave
Alcoholism may be partly due to genetic make-up |
The children of alcoholics may be genetically predisposed to the condition, say researchers who have monitored the way their brains respond to drink.
Scientists have found several tell-tale physical characteristics which seem to be linked to alcoholism.
These include an ability by the brain to "hold its liquor" and not become drunk, and even a variation in brainwaves between drinkers and non-drinkers.
Dr Henri Begleiter, from the Downstate Medical Centre in Brooklyn, which is part of the State University of New York, says the best way to predict whether someone is an alcoholic is a "stunted brainwave".
The P3 spike, which is the third spike of electrical activity in the brain after it has been surprised by, for example, a bright flash of light, has been found to be considerably lower in alcoholics.
Some brains are more resistant to the effects of drink |
And these tiny spikes are present not only in the alcoholics, but also many of their unaffected relatives and children.
Dr Begleiter believes the P3 spike corresponds to the signal which tells the rest of the central nervous system to calm down after it has been "surprised".
Low P3 spikes mean the the brain remains overexcited, producing a churning feeling which can be calmed by drinking alcohol.
Alcohol sensitivity
Another theory on genetic predisposition to alcohol suggests that brains which are less sensitive to alcohol can encourage alcoholism.
Dr Marc Schuckit, of the University of California, looked at 453 sons of heavy drinkers, all in their early 20s.
He found that 40 per cent of the sons of alcoholics were relatively insensitive to the intoxicating effects of alcohol, compared to only 10 per cent of the sons of non-alcoholics.
Ten years later, he looked at what had become of his subjects, and discovered that a high tolerance of alcohol approximately doubled the risk that a man would become alcoholic by the age of 30.
He is now carrying out the 20-year follow-up - looking at the children of the first group of men, and hopes their DNA will reveal clues to a genetic link with alcoholism.
A major project called the Collaboration on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) is now looking for clues to any genetic origins of alcoholism.
The research was reported in New Scientist magazine.
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