Alcohol apocalypse? Evolution making us too sick to drink, study finds

RT

Humanity may be seeing the last of the big drinkers as new research claims evolution is making people physically unable to consume large amounts of alcohol.

Examining trends across human populations, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania found that human genes are developing variants of an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the body. Because these new variants are less effective at tackling the alcohol, some drinkers are left so sick that they’re unlikely to develop a taste for it. 

The study, published in the journal Nature, Ecology & Evolution, was developed using findings from the 1000 Genomes Project, a 10-year international effort to catalogue human genetic variation. Researchers said the new variants were observed in five populations in different continents, meaning that the change is likely as a result of humanity’s common ancestry and evolving genetic makeup.

Comparing the similar findings from African and non-African populations, the study reads: “Taken collectively, these patterns suggest that alcohol oxidation pathways broadly have been subject to recent positive selection in humans.”

Identifying the role of genes in alcohol consumption is seen as the crucial to creating a medical solution to alcoholism. In November 2016, scientists from King’s College and Imperial College London identified a gene that makes people more likely to drink. It’s hoped the discovery will lead to new treatments for people with alcoholism as it may be possible to replicate the gene’s function.

Professor Gunter Schumann, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, told the Sun at the time: “Our study reveals a previously unrecognized liver-brain pathway which regulates alcohol consumption in humans, and which could one day be targeted therapeutically to suppress consumption in problem drinkers.”

https://www.rt.com/news/419564-dna-alcohol-evolution-gene/

15 thoughts on “Alcohol apocalypse? Evolution making us too sick to drink, study finds

  1. Right. “Evolution” causes people to get sick drinking booze whereas back when breweries and distilleries were making booze everyone could drink a fifth of single-malt scotch and not get a hangover…changes in brewing and distilling have nothing to do with it! So these ‘scientists’ have empirical proof our ‘genes’ are ‘developing variants of an enzyme that breaks down alcohol’ over the course of hundreds of years going back to the first days of breweries and distilleries dating to the Middle Ages–meaning these ‘scientists’ went back in time to collect this ‘evidence’ of ‘genes’ from the 1200s compared to today…. Gunther Schumann’s Excellent Adventure!

  2. I HAD RATHER BE DRUNK THAN BE A MONKEY……….OR A “HUMAN”

    “Modern humans (Homo sapiens, ssp. Homo sapiens sapiens) are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina, a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the family of great apes.”—-WIKIPEDIA—

    1. I like mine neat, then come the goddamn cigarettes, then if I’m lucky, a fight, then the fkg cops. LOL…..

      1. I look forward to the day when I can throw back a few with you, find out once and for all who is the biggest asshole. 🙂

  3. ‘Evolution’ of the planet, not the people.

    Think of all the toxins in the environment that weren’t there 100 years ago.

  4. So Beer companies start using GMOs in all their beers since the 90s and now the peoples’ genes are acting differently?

    Make no mistake, the satanic destruction of humanity is rooted in GMOs.

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