Blue Eyes May Cause You to be More Alcohol-Dependent

People with blue eyes may have a greater chance of becoming alcoholics. Scientists have discovered that those who genetically have blue eyes may actually have the possibility of becoming more dependent on alcohol.

In this latest study, the researchers found that European Americans with light-colored eyes-including green, grey and brown in the center-had a higher incidence of alcohol dependency than those with dark brown eyes. The strongest tendency for alcohol dependence was among blue-eyed individuals. Why this is, though, still remains a mystery.

"This suggests an intriguing possibility-that eye color can be useful in the clinic for alcohol dependence diagnosis," said Arvis Sulovari, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The researchers examined an extensive database and filtered out the alcohol-dependent patients with European ancestry. After the researchers noticed the eye-color connection, they retested their analysis three times; they arranged and rearranged groups of people to compare age, gender and different ethnic or geographical backgrounds, such as southern and northern parts of the continent.

"What has fascinated me the most about this work has been investigating the interface between statistics, informatics and biology," said Sulovari. "It's an incredible opportunity to study genomics in the contexts of complex human diseases."

The findings reveal a bit more about alcohol dependence. Not only that, but the new study could be a way for researchers to target those who are more likely to become dependent on alcohol. This could be huge for clinics and may also help scientists target genes for study.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics.

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