[Aztlan] Natural selection for Indian Alcoholism?

[Robert Connolly]

some 20 + years ago I read the book:

Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism
by James Robert Milam, Katherine Ketcham

An argument put forward in the book is that individuals are genetically
predisposed to alcoholism, alcoholics reproduction rates are lower than
nonalcoholics, therefore the genetic predisposition is lessened through
time, therefore the longer a culture is exposed to alcohol, the fewer the
alcoholics.  I recollect the authors back the argument with data on rates of
alcoholism in various cultures compared to estimates of length of time a
culture has consumed alcoholic beverages.

I cannot speak to the validity of the data presentation made by the authors.
Although I am not an expert in this area, when I first got sober some 20
plus years ago I did enough research in professional journals at the time to
feel comfortable with statements that individuals are predisposed to
alcoholism.  Conventional wisdom and all empirical data I have ever seen
demonstrate that alcoholism is an equal opportunity affliction that crosses
all social strata.  For example, my dissertation advisor, when describing
life conditions in rural India commented "take the most poverty stricken
area of Mesoamerica you have ever been and multiply the poverty by 100 and
you have India."  The upshot being, India will have at least as many
mitigating social factors as probably most of the rest of the world, but my
impression is that alcoholism is really not an issue there.

Robert Connolly
Jackson, MS
USA

On 10/21/06 5:02 PM, "Greg Sandor" <gregory_sandor at hotmail.com> wrote:

> It seems to me that a prevalence of alcoholism in a native population is due
> more to social factors; i.e. second-class status and removal of former
> productive activity than to genetic factors.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Greg
> 
> (614) 517-7204
> greg at gregsandor.com
> http://www.gregsandor.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Robert Evans" <revans at atoda.com>
> To: <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
> Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 4:58 PM
> Subject: [Aztlan] Natural selection for Indian Alcoholism?
> 
> 
>> Indians across America have a reputation for not being able to hold their
>> liquor, and alcoholism is disproportionately represented on Indian
> reserves.
>> Yet Indians made and consumed numerous types of liquor, well before
> contact
>> with Europeans. Alcoholism is at least partly hereditary, and the Indian
>> gene pool is more homogeneous than that of the west. Indian populations
> were
>> decimated by western infectious diseases. Assuming the prior statements to
>> be true, would anyone care to shoot holes in the following theory: Those
>> Indians who were regular consumers of alcohol would be somewhat more
>> protected from infectious diseases than non drinkers. After the massive
>> population reduction from the infectious diseases, the alcoholism trait
>> would have been naturally selected and unusually represented in the
>> remaining population.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Robert Evans
>> 
>>  <mailto:revans at atoda.com> revans at atoda.com
>> 
>> 
>> 
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