A team of scientists has identified a gene that regulates how much alcohol we drink. The study, conducted with the participation of 47,000 subjects, has been published in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The gene in question is calledAUTS2and had beenrelatedpreviouslywith autism and attention deficit hyperactive disorder. The new analysis, carried out by an international consortium of scientists led by Imperial College London (United Kingdom), has detected two variants of the gene, one of which is three times more common in the population. People with the less common version of the gene consume on average 5% less alcohol. According to scientists, the gene is more active in areas of the brain linked to physiological reward mechanisms, so it could play an important role in regulating the positive reinforcement we feel when we drink alcoholic beverages. Researchers have found that this same gene has asimilar function in mice and fruit flies.
Scientists believe that there are more genes that determine the desire to consume alcohol. However, so far only one other gene had been discovered,CYP2E1It controls the metabolization of alcohol in the liver, which has an impact on the ingestion of the substance. By understanding the biological and genetic bases of alcohol consumption, the researchers hope to “developpreventive therapies and treatments to combat alcoholism“.
