Henry Kranzler, a psychiatry professor and the director of the Center for Studies of Addiction at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, has discovered that a proclivity for alcoholism can be passed down from family members. ‘ We discovered that drinking more than one drink per day was associated with decreases in brain volume, which could have cognitive effects’, he told SCMP.
The addiction specialist believes that excessive drinking treatment should be tailored to an individual’s genetic makeup. More time and research are needed, according to Kranzler, whose work has focused on the genetics of substance addiction.
‘At the moment, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the United States recommends that women drink no more than seven drinks per week on average, and men no more than fourteen. That, in my opinion, is too much for men but probably about right for women,’ Kranzler said.
Kranzler stated that people are more vulnerable to alcohol use disorder if a close relative has it, citing how his research uncovered the genetics of alcoholism. He emphasises that we have not yet reached the point where knowing more about the genetic component of alcohol use disorder allows for individualised treatment. Kranzler believes that polygenic risk scores can be used to prescreen people to see if they are at risk of developing an alcohol use disorder.
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