Genes keep Asians, Jews off alcohol

Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Jewish people in general are cheaper drunks and, as a result, have a lower risk of becoming alcoholics, says a visiting expert in the genetics of alcoholism.

Marc Schuckit, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, said 10 per cent of Japanese, Chinese and Korean people had bad genes that made them ill and nauseous after a small dose of alcohol.

"How likely is it that these people develop serious problems with alcoholism? Virtually zero," Professor Schuckit told a Cutting Edge alcohol, drug and addiction treatment conference in Wellington yesterday.

Forty per cent of the same Asian group had an enzyme that was unable to break down alcohol properly, causing them to flush bright red in the face.

This made them more responsive to alcohol and less tolerant of it, meaning they were less likely to drink heavily and develop severe alcohol problems.

He said there were at least two known groups of gene mutations that affect how people metabolise alcohol; one is in the alcohol-dehydrogenase enzyme, the other group in the aldehyde-dehydrogenase enzyme. The face-flushing effect is a result of the latter group.

As well as these groups, he said Jewish people were also prone to a lower alcohol tolerance. But Koreans outside the 40 per cent flush group generally could drink more and feel the effects less.

Professor Schuckit's research suggested that 60 per cent of the risk for severe alcohol problems lies in a person's genes; the other factor is a person's environment.