Beer : Health and Nutrition

24 Chapter One
of alcoholic parents were not predisposed to becoming alcoholics; indeed, there were
more alcoholic women who did not have alcoholic parents (Cahalan et al. 1969).
Speci c genes for alcohol dependence have not yet been identi ed; there may be six
or so linked to alcohol sensitivity, as well as others determining personality and general
predilection towards addiction (Whit eld 2001).
It is believed by some that innate resistance to intoxication increases the risk of alcohol
dependence, whereas sensitivity to the impact of alcohol decreases the risk (Whit eld
2001). Seemingly 5–10% of British and Germans and twice as many Swiss have forms
of the enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, that allow up to 30% faster elimination of alcohol
(Marshall & Murray 1989). The concern is that individuals who react less intensely
to alcohol may lack the inherent feedback control to prevent the negative impact of
higher alcohol intake (Finn et al. 1990). Another key factor that limits the extent to
which people consume alcohol is its inhibition of the synthesis of glucose in the body
(gluconeogenesis). This induces hypoglycaemia (shortage of sugar) and a healthy body
should respond by limiting the intake of the inhibitor, i.e. ethanol.
Alcoholism, then, is held by many to run in families (Cotton 1979; Dietrich & Spuhler
1984; Goodwin 1985), with four- fths of male and female alcoholics in treatment possessing
at least one close biological relative also displaying alcohol-related problems
(Hesselbrock et al. 2001). Hesselbrock et al. say that the risk of alcoholism among
sons of alcoholic fathers is 3–5 times greater than for the general population. It should
be appreciated that, while there may be a genetic basis for this inheritance, there may
equally be an environmental in uence. This may run in a counter-indicative way; for
example (if I may be permitted a qualitative observation), I know several individuals
who adopt an extremely abstemious lifestyle having been raised in households where
the father has been troubled by abusing alcohol.
Fingarette (1988) amply illustrates how there are undoubtedly diverse causal impacts
on individuals’ likelihood to take alcohol to excess. There may be no uniformity between
people in this respect. While there may be some genetic contribution to the effect, there
are those who believe that there may equally be a signi cant contribution of ‘learning
theory’: some people may simply learn to deal with life’s dif culties in this way.
Fingarette writes:
There is no one cause of alcoholism; alcohol abuse is the outcome of a range of
physical, personal and social characteristics that together predispose a person to
drink to excess; and episodes of heavy drinking are triggered by immediate events
in a person’s life.
We are reminded, too, that there may be an economic impact. It is claimed that there
is an inverse relationship between cirrhosis and the price of alcohol (Cook 1984). On
this basis some rmly advocate higher taxation of alcohol to reduce alcoholism. For