New research into differences between men and women in how the body handles alcohol could lead to more-targeted treatments for alcoholism that takes both genes and gender into account, according to a report in WebMD. Writer Denise Mann tells us about research out of Japan published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, that indicates that an inactive gene--ALDH2--that delays development of alcoholism in men actually accelerates it in women.
It is already known that the presence of two genes, ADH1B and ALDH2, increases alcoholism risk. But Mitsuru Kimura, of the Kurihama Alcoholism Center in Kanagawa, found that men and women differ in how the genes affect risk, Mann reports. Kimura tells WedMD that understanding these differences could help predict the course of alcohol dependence. Those who lack ALDH2 suffer from unpleasant side-effects from alcohol, such as nausea, headaches and flushing, which in turn tends to discourage drinking.
Kimura studied 415 men and 200 women who were hospitalized for alcoholism and found that female alcoholics with inactive ALDH2 were more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety, driving them more toward drinking despite the bad side-effects. Women with inactive ALDH2 also tended to start heavy drinking earlier than women with an active version of the gene. In men, however, ALDH2 does not appear to affect the time of alcoholism onset.
"There are male/female differences in alcohol use rates and addiction rates, but this was thought to be due to differences in size, but this paper suggests that it has to do with metabolism as well," Victor M. Hesselbrock, a psychiatry professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, tells WebMD.
- read the whole report on WebMD