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A study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Vermont revealed that, impossible as it may seem, alcoholism can be linked to eye color.
Thus, the experts claim that the people who have blue eyes stand greater risks of becoming addicted to alcohol than others.
In order to reach such conclusions, the researchers looked at the genetic database of over 10,000 people. Most of them suffered from various conditions such as alcoholism or mental disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The data was collected from both European American and black people.
Out of these, about a tenth (1,263 people) were addicted to alcohol. It was soon revealed that there might be a link between alcoholism and eye color. The theory was tested out three more times, when the researchers also took into account other factors, such as gender, age, background.
An explanation could be that there is a link between the gene component associated with alcoholism and the one responsible for eye color. This forwarded the conclusion that people who have blue eyes are more inclined to develop such an addiction than the ones who have darker-colored eyes.
Even if the theory might seem absurd to some, it is not the first time eye-color is connected to excessive alcohol consumption. The same hypothesis was issued 15 years ago, when a study led by researchers at Georgia State University in 2000 implied that people whose eyes were light-colored had a tendency to drink more alcohol.
It remains uncertain why this happens and further research needs to be carried out. However, the theory can prove very useful in the future, according to some experts:
This suggests an intriguing possibility — that eye color can be useful in the clinic for alcohol dependence diagnosis,” said Arvis Sulovary, a doctoral student.
There are currently more than 200 million people worldwide who are regarded as alcoholics, which means that this disorder is considered to be a very important public health problem that many countries are facing.
Therefore, any new tool for treatment could be extremely useful to help out the millions of people who have to deal with such disorders.
The results of the study were published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics.
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