It’s bad news for all you dreamers out there. A new study has shown a strong link between blue eyes, alcoholism, and health problems. The dreamy eyed people of the world are also, scientists say, the most inclined to have a drinking problem. And I’m not talking about orange juice.
Have you ever noticed your blue eyed friend getting more than a little tipsy when you’re out with the gang? Are you blue eyed and have you observed this tendency in you? Well, now you know you’re not being paranoid. There is actual scientific proof to this. Listen:
The theory of this new study (which appears in the July number of the American Journal of Medical Genetics: Neuropsychiatric Genetics) brings science closer to the still-theory that alcoholism has a strong tie with a specific genetic component.
1,263 white Americans were tested by doctors Arvis Sulovari and Dawei Li of the University of Vermont. The team found alcoholism more likely as they tested more and more lighter shades of the iris. The end result was the conclusion that blue eyed individuals had the strongest link to alcohol dependency.
After a more in depth inspection of the results, the two scientists realized that the genetic components determining eye color pertain to the same chromosome like the genes that link to excessive alcohol use.
In 2000 there had been another study hinting to this. The research which targeted women and their relation to alcohol, also found that blue eyed women drank more in the course of a month than brown eyed women.
Yet, there are many more genes that link to alcoholism, apart from the one that determines the color of the eye. Two 2014 studies link two genes (which were already tied with alcoholism) to a number of other health disorders.
Type One Neurofibromatosis (Nf1) would be the first. The second is the genetic mutation GRM3, which is found in about one of two hundred people. This specific gene, besides being connected to alcoholic tendencies, could also be pertaining to schizophrenia and also bipolar disorder.
But, the results of the study by Sulovari & Li are not the definitive answer to why people drink too much. A study from earlier this year found that alcoholism also has ties to socioeconomic status (SES) – people with low SES are more likely to develop drinking problems than people with high SES.
The team of doctors suggest that for now, further study in the direction of their study could shed light not only on the causes of alcoholism, but also on the side-effects of psychiatric conditions.
Image source: images.medicaldaily.com
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