If you go to any AA meeting you are bound to hear someone say that they were born an alcoholic. While it may truly feel like that to the person making that claim, no one is born an alcoholic. At the same time, many believe that because of a strong family history of alcoholism that they are doomed to become an alcoholic themselves. Again, this is not true and a person with a high genetic predisposition to alcoholism does have control over their fate when it comes to alcohol use and abuse.
It Is In Your Genes
There certainly is a genetic component when it comes to the risk of developing alcoholism. Twin studies have looked at this increased risk from a number of angles, using fraternal twin and identical twins. Fraternal twins come from two eggs and two sperms and they are really no different than any siblings. They do not share identical genetic material, they simply share a womb for 9 months. On the other hand, identical twins come from one egg and one sperm and at some point early on, the cells divide into two identical embryos. These various studies looked at both fraternal and identical twins who were separate and adopted, some by parents with no alcohol problems, and some went into families who went on to have issues with alcohol.
What these studies found was that environment did not affect the rate of alcoholism in these twins. Those raised by sober parents and those raised by parents with alcoholism had the same rate of becoming alcoholics themselves. What they did find, though, was that in both fraternal and identical twins who had a genetic link to an alcoholic-a parent, a sibling, or a grandparent, these twins were four times more likely to develop alcoholism. Extrapolated, this means that anyone with a genetic family history of alcoholism in a close relative is four times more likely to become an alcoholic and that is a significantly increased risk. However, again, it does not mean that the person will become an alcoholic.
Each person is born with a set trigger. This applies to everyone, not just those with a family history of alcoholism. Once this trigger level is crossed, usually over a period of time, and affected by other factors, alcoholism occurs. Since no one can see where their trigger point is, two things need to be taken into account. The first is the genetics. In people with a close family member with alcoholism, 32% go on to become alcoholics themselves. However, there is one other risk factor that can greatly affect a persons chances of becoming an alcoholic, and that is alcohol tolerance.
Alcohol Tolerance
We have all heard the phrases that are used to describe an individual’s alcohol tolerance. Someone who is a “lightweight,” or a “cheap date,” is someone who has a low tolerance for alcohol and having a low alcohol tolerance is usually not thought of as something to boast about Then there are the people who will happily announce to anyone who is within drinking range that they can “drink anyone under the table.” Who is at a higher risk of becoming an alcoholic? Is it the lightweight, or the person who can drink anyone under the table? Surprisingly, it is not the person with the low alcohol tolerance, but rather the person with the high tolerance to alcohol.
At the same time, the person with the high tolerance to alcohol is the person more likely to get the DUI. Because this high tolerance person does not look or feel drunk despite having consumed mass quantities of alcohol, as the Coneheads would say, it is that person who is more likely to volunteer to drive the gang home, or just plain get behind the wheel no matter how much alcohol that they have consumed. This is because a person with a high tolerance to alcohol does not feel impaired as quickly as a person with a low alcohol tolerance even though they may be just as impaired. A person with a high tolerance but no family history has the same likelihood of becoming an alcoholic as the person with a low alcohol tolerance and a family history
So, what do you have when you have someone with that point of pride high alcohol tolerance as well as an unknown trigger point made lower by a family history of alcoholism? What you have is someone who is roughly 66% more likely to become an alcoholic than a person with no risk factor. That is huge.
However, this person is not going to become and alcoholic overnight and does not have to become an alcoholic at all. It should also be noted at this point that a person who has no risk factors can become an alcoholic if they engage in enough high risk behaviors to cause their bodies to cross their trigger point. What are high risk behaviors? That varies according to ones personal risk factors and these high risk behaviors are well within a persons control up to the point where the trigger point is crosses and alcoholism has occurred.
A high risk behavior is based on alcohol consumption over a period of time, and the choices made around the amount of alcohol a person uses. Making choices to control high risk behaviors are as easy as 0-1-2-3. For a person who has already crossed their trigger point and has become an alcoholic, the only safe amount of alcohol that person can consume is none. Complete abstinence from alcohol is required. A person with one risk factor, either genetic or a high alcohol tolerance, would be wise to limit themselves to one or two drinks per day, with a drink being one ounce of hard liquor, 12 ounces of beer, or 4 ounces of wine. One drink per day is a wise limit for a woman, and two drinks a wise limit for a man with one risk factor.
For a person who has two of the risk factors, both a high tolerance and a family history, having 0 to 1 drink per day is the best option. In all cases, for everyone, risks or no risks, no more then three drinks a day should be consumed, or no more than 14 drinks in a week. This means that you cannot save up your drinking time, having no alcohol during the week then going out and having 20 drinks on the weekend.
Knowing yourself, your family history, and your alcohol tolerance can go a long way in helping you to make low risk choices when it comes to alcohol and can prevent alcoholism. Knowing that you have that control can be a cause for celebration. No one moves straight into alcoholism. There are three stages of drinking behavior that occur prior to crossing the trigger point, with alcohol becoming more a part of your life in each stage.
You can make the choice to quit drinking, or move into low risk behaviors at any point during the three stages that precede alcoholism. If you have already crossed your trigger point, get help, either from AA, your doctor or a rehab. You do not have to become an alcoholic, and if you already are, you can get better. It is all about making the right low risk choice for you.
Alcohol Tolerance Influenced by miRNA
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