Is Alcoholism Hereditary? How Genetics Predispose You to Addiction

Imagine yourself at a family gathering. Everyone is there. You, your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – everyone is there. Hotdogs and burgers on the grill fill the air with a mouth-watering barbeque aroma. Laughter can be heard all around. Games are being played. The younger children scream in the backyard at some made-up game they are enjoying. The older folks are inside playing hand after hand at cards. A few other relatives also stand scattered about with a beer in hand while conversing.

You look around you. Is there anyone else here that does not have a drink in hand? The thought races in your mind: Are you the only one that struggles with alcoholism? You wonder. What separates you from them? Why are they able to drink with limits, but you aren’t? Or can they with limits?

Growing up in a household where family members do not abuse substances, including alcohol, can make you feel lost and alone in your recovery endeavor. Knowing whether or not if other family members had their fair share of struggle with alcoholism or another type of addiction could help explain some of your experiences.

Why? Is Alcoholism Hereditary?

Yes, alcoholism is believed to in part be hereditary. If someone in your family before yourself has struggled with alcoholism or another addiction, you are most likely at greater risk of developing addictive tendencies in your lifetime. If you are directly exposed to addictive substances early in life — as a child — you are at even greater risk of this.

You may have grown up with parents who consumed alcohol in front of you but never demonstrated unhealthy drinking habits. An uncle, however, might not be able to have one drink without drinking another. You might find yourself later in life taking after your uncle rather than your parents when it comes to drinking habits. Although genetics does not provide a guaranteed argument that you will develop addictive tendencies towards alcohol, understanding your family history with alcoholism can help prevent it.

Alcoholism and Genetics

How much of a role does genetics play in the risk of you developing alcoholism? According to a study about genetics and alcoholism, published by Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, “family studies have consistently demonstrated that there is a substantial genetic contribution to alcohol dependence. Over the past two decades, several genes underlying susceptibility have been identified. Extensive study of the alcohol metabolizing genes has demonstrated their important role in disease risk.”

It is not just a single gene that prominently increases the risk of developing alcoholism. There are many. These genes can be shared across family lines, and that is why you and your uncle can both share a similar risk for alcoholism.

Another study, led by Penn Medicine researchers, “revealed genes associated with heavy drinking and alcoholism.” This large genomic study consisted of around 275,000 people, focused on better understanding the genetic proponents of alcohol use disorder (AUD), better known as alcoholism. The Penn Medicine team of researchers identified and discovered “18 genetic variants of significance associated with either heavy alcohol consumption, AUD, or both.” Further discussed in the identification, “while five variants overlapped, eight were only associated with consumption and five with AUD only.”

Of course, you or your family members will not know if you share any of the genes that are associated with a greater likelihood of developing AUD unless you take a DNA test. For the majority of people suffering from this disease, that investigative tool is rarely used.

As exciting as the science behind better understanding genetics and alcoholism is, it is the practice of preventative measures and substance abstinence that proves effective in helping those suffering from alcoholism find long-term sobriety.

Socio-Environmental Factors of Alcoholism

Socio-environmental factors are another concern when discussing factors that affect a person’s likelihood of developing AUD. Alongside genetics, your environment during every stage of your life plays a role in the risk of developing addictive tendencies. Especially during your childhood and early adolescent years, you may have experiences that increase the risk of suffering from alcohol abuse in the future.

With parents who drink in heavy quantities at home while growing up, you learn that their drinking habits are healthy even if they are not. You know to replicate those behaviors when you get older.

Living a party life during your early adulthood years can result in regular binge drinking, alcohol abuse, and other substance abuse. It can become challenging to unlearn poor regulation with alcohol and dependency upon alcohol even well into your adulthood.

The normalization of problematic drinking is fundamentally a socio-environmental issue. You learn from others close to you. As you grow, you integrate with the world around you.

Identify Symptoms

If you are concerned about your family history of alcoholism and would like the best chance at preventing your development of the disease, it is best to be aware of its symptoms. Alcoholism is not a moral failing; instead, it is a disease. As a type of substance use disorder (SUD), you require three or more of the following symptoms to be diagnosed with AUD:

• Cravings
• Inability to moderate
• Physical dependence
• Tolerance

If you experience any of these symptoms, seek help from your social support system and a doctor. Catching the development of alcoholism early in its tracks, and instilling healthy behaviors towards drinking, is a fundamental way to prevent AUD.

Ways to Prevent Alcohol Addiction

Your family history may lead you to be more susceptible to developing alcoholism. However, there are ways to prevent it from becoming a more significant issue in your life. It is essential to be aware that this genetic risk for developing AUD is present at any stage in your life.

If you are concerned about your child, be sure not to let them drink at a young age. Children that drink alcohol have an increased risk of developing AUD. This is in part because their brain is still growing. It is believed that the brain is only fully developed around the age of 25. If you binge drink as a growing adolescent, you influence future trends in your adult behavior.

As an adult, be aware of the risks of drinking in excess. Instead, drink in moderation or entirely abstain from drinking to best give yourself a fighting chance against addiction. Alcohol is an insidious substance that even adults who have never drunk before can fall victim to.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year.” Due to alcohol being a legal substance, it is society’s substance of choice, and therefore, even if you abstain from using it, it still might impact your life in other ways. Whether that be the stigma of being sober around friends who drink or abstaining from a wedding toast, you must be mindful of the risk if you are at risk due to a family history of alcoholism.

Those that struggle with mental health also have an increased risk of developing alcoholism. Often, this is the substitution of prescribed medicine with alcohol. As a way to self-medicate, alcohol only worsens mental health disorders and leads to co-occurring conditions. On top of having a family history of alcoholism, sharing a mental health disorder dramatically increases your risk.

To help prevent alcohol abuse in your life, seek medical attention for your mental health disorder. If you suffer from depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or any other mental health concern, consult with your primary care doctor and consider seeking out a specialist. Alcohol does not, and should not, be the method you use to treat your mental health concerns.

Can You Inherit Alcohol Tolerance?

Alcohol tolerance refers to the quantity of alcohol consumption it takes for you to feel intoxicated. Greater alcohol tolerance is when you need to consume more to feel an equal effect of intoxication than those who have not built up as great a tolerance.

Although you can inherit addictive tendencies and alcoholism, you cannot inherit tolerance. Alcohol tolerance can only be built with prolonged, continued consumption of alcohol. For instance, if you drink regularly — two beers per day for a week straight — by the end of that period, you need three drinks to match what you felt from when you first started.

So, why do people think that alcohol tolerance is inheritable, then? The myth of alcohol tolerance being inheritable originates from the fact that alcohol intolerance is a very real condition. Whereas alcohol tolerance is not genetically driven, alcohol intolerance is. This condition is most often seen in people of Asian descent.

What Is Alcohol Intolerance?

Alcohol intolerance is an allergic reaction. For instance, if someone you know is lactose intolerant, they cannot drink milk or consume other dairy products because if they do, they might feel an upset stomach, become gassy, or have diarrhea. Although these are not effects of alcohol intolerance, the condition follows a similar suit. Instead, alcohol intolerance causes blotchiness in a person’s complexion and stuffiness in their nose. Certain people have an alcohol intolerance condition because they cannot properly metabolize the substance. This inability to metabolize alcohol is thought to be hereditary.

The Takeaway

Knowing that alcoholism can be inherited through certain genes, it is essential for you to investigate your family medical history to understand your level of susceptibility to addiction better. Does addiction run in your family? If so, there are ways to prevent it.

Although addiction is a disease, it is preventable. Seeking help while in the throes of addiction is much more difficult than before you are overwhelmed by its affliction. If you, or any of your family members, seem to struggle with alcoholism or other substance abuse, consult a medical professional first and foremost, and learn what steps you should take. A doctor can provide any necessary diagnoses and referrals to treatment if needed.

 

Predisposition to alcoholism due to your family history does not need to keep you from getting help. Addiction recovery is a choice that helps you lead a brighter, healthier life. Real Recovery Sober Living is a sober living home based in the Greater Tampa Bay area, ranked as Florida’s largest provider of sober living home beds. Our sober living spaces are open to men in recovery who want to join a community focused on embracing positive change.

Part of our pride towards recovery is in how we differentiate ourselves from traditional halfway houses and other less-than recovery options. Our homes offer a clean, safe, and stable environment for you to get the help that you need. Your recovery is our utmost priority, as you will see demonstrated by our expert addiction recovery staff. Our staff is hand-picked based on their personal experiences and success with similar structure-oriented programs. Call (727) 290-9156 today for more information.