Are you wondering if alcoholism is genetic or hereditary? Trying to find an authentic answer to it? Read on this article, and you will know how much your genes contribute to developing alcoholism in your next generation.
Yes, alcoholism is a genetic trait that can pass on from parent to generation and generations. Like other hereditary diseases, alcoholism has a tendency or ability to run in families. If someone in your family is misusing alcohol, it increases the risk of their offspring developing alcohol use disorder (AUD) or other substance use disorder (SUD) later in their lives.
Genetic or hereditary diseases are those that pass through genes. These genes are hereditary material possessing DNA that contains hereditary information. It is also called a genetic makeup of an individual and is unique to each of them. The set of genes possessed by the parents when combined during fertilization, some of the traits from both father and mother pass on to the embryo. An example of it can be like the color of your eyes, your height, your behavior, etc. may be somewhat similar to either of your parent or sometimes grandparents. Similarly, if they have any hereditary disease (a genetic disease like diabetes or mental illnesses that transmits through genes), there are chances of showing up its symptoms at any stage of your life. Also check Ibogaine treatment centers in Mexico.
Genes and Alcoholism
If we talk about the genes that are responsible for the development of alcoholism, scientists say that there is not a single gene involved but a combination of them. What does it mean? Several studies have been carried out to identify which of the thousands of genes occurs as an alcoholic gene. However, experts failed to recognize a solitary gene causing alcoholism. From many researches, it is concluded that multiple genes or their variant combinations are playing a part in making the person vulnerable to alcoholism. Moreover, these genes have also been seen to be influenced by some environmental factors, which we will discuss ahead.
Among these combinations of genes, some have shown a strong relationship with alcoholism, while others have a smaller part to play. Overall, these genes make it difficult for the experts to call out one gene as a gene of alcoholism. This condition is known as genetic predisposition. It elucidates your likelihood of developing alcoholism.
The symptoms of alcoholism appear after your body reached the tolerant amount. It’s the amount below which your body doesn’t get high after drinking alcohol, and you tend to drink more. The amount above that tolerance level poses health hazards, making you dependent on it.
Other genes that may also be responsible for alcoholism are alcohol metabolism includeADH1B and ALDH2. If there is an alteration in these genes, the alcohol you ingest won’t be metabolized properly and will remain in your system. Check rehabs in Mexico.
Interaction Between Genetics and Environmental Factors
As per the researches conducted so far, it is concluded that genetics accounts for 50% of the cases of alcoholism. That means the rest of the people, despite having no alcohol genes present, may also develop alcoholism due to some other factors. Also, if you have a family member with alcohol use disorder, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will develop alcoholism. But yes, compared to those who don’t have such genes, it increases your likelihood of developing the condition 3 times.
Both kinds of individuals who possess genes of alcoholism and don’t may become alcoholics for some environmental factors. These may be a trauma, mental illness, injury, or behavior. In some cases, it is observed that hereditary diseases, particularly mental disorders, can trigger AUD in individuals having no family history of alcoholism.
Here we concluded that alcoholism is genetic or hereditary, but this statement only shows that it will increase your risk of becoming an alcoholic. However, to trigger that urge for abusing alcohol comes from how you deal with the above-mentioned environmental factors.
