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posted by mrpg on Thursday January 31 2019, @07:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the alcohol-as-a-parasite dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Binge and heavy drinking may trigger a long-lasting genetic change, resulting in an even greater craving for alcohol, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

"We found that people who drink heavily may be changing their DNA in a way that makes them crave alcohol even more," said Distinguished Professor Dipak K. Sarkar, senior author of the study and director of the Endocrine Program in the Department of Animal Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. "This may help explain why alcoholism is such a powerful addiction, and may one day contribute to new ways to treat alcoholism or help prevent at-risk people from becoming addicted."

In 2016, more than 3 million people died from the harmful use of alcohol, according a World Health Organization report. That is 5 percent of all global deaths. More than three-quarters of alcohol-caused deaths were among men. The harmful use of alcohol also caused 5.1 percent of the worldwide toll of disease and injuries.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by HiThere on Thursday January 31 2019, @05:22PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 31 2019, @05:22PM (#794599) Journal

    Maybe. It could also reduce the desire to be exposed to the stimulus, and if the stimulus is damaging despite the protection (it is) then that might be less harmful. But this requires additional studies, because that's a separate question, and this study doesn't answer it.

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