Predisposition To Alcoholism: What's In Your Genes?

Predisposition To Alcoholism: What's In Your Genes?
Certainly the popular notion that alcoholism may be
inherited from our parents has gained momentum in recent
times. This is not a new school of thought by any means,
but it has gained creditability as a result of detailed
investigations that have been carried out in the name of
science these past decades. There is no question that
typically a pattern emerges where a tendency to alcoholism
and alcohol related problems do affect siblings and
generations within a family. By no means does this
conclusively indicate that alcoholism or alcohol related
problems will plague you because you inherited the gene
from a parent.

On the other hand, there are many genetically inherited
characteristics that have been proven to impact on the
likelihood of an individual becoming a statistic of
alcoholism related concerns. It is understood that the
predisposition to alcoholism may be contributed by a number
of factors including genetic makeup and social or
environmental aspects. As yet, there has not been a
breakthrough in the discovery of a particular alcoholic
gene but there have been significant findings in the
relationship between some inherited genes that are known to
be present in a vast number of alcoholics studied. 5-HTT
(the serotonin transporter gene), the gene found in
depression sufferers is one example of an inherited gene
shared by many alcoholics. The presence of this gene also
does not doom a person to depression. Like alcoholism,
social and environmental factors are very evident in the
reflection of the condition upon an individual.

Another genetically inherited characteristic that has a
relationship to alcoholism is a variation in our liver
enzymes that controls the rate that our liver processes
alcohol. Alcoholism is considered to be a complex disease
as is diabetes, meaning that genetic makeup alone does not
automatically lead to alcoholism, social environmental
influences contribute to the diseases presence.

We typically learn our social skills from within our
families from birth. It is here that we learn right from
wrong and acceptable social behavior. If a family get
together is learned from our childhood conditioning as
being an event that alcohol is consumed for the merriment
of all this becomes imprinted in our minds as the nature of
social interaction. The same principle applies to all other
occasions and daily events. Certainly social conditioning
is learned from all that we are exposed to, not just our
immediate family. Indeed, visual repetitive learning is a
valuable and effective teaching tool; unfortunately, it is
not so selective as to be able to dismiss the negative
influence also.

Environmental factors that often reflect a tendency toward
alcoholism do not fall squarely in the home of a family.
Habitual behavior and life choices remain the
responsibility of an individual. If your mother was an
alcoholic, and the family drank to excess at home and
socially, this does not absolve an individual of
responsibility from the choices they make for themselves.

Science has not finished with alcoholism. Certainly medical
communities are diligently pressing on with the hope that
one day this disease that destroys mankind from the inside
out and devastates entire families and the loved ones of
sufferers may one day be completely understood. We do know
that genetics does contribute some to the condition of
alcoholism, and do know that the presence of the disease is
generated from complex factors including genetic and social
environment, but there is still much to be learned. In the
mean time, we may be grateful that help and support is
available when someone is willing to accept it.

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Brain Fitness and Diabetes

Brain Fitness and Diabetes
An interesting paper came out recently in Nature talking
about a newly discovered link between the brain and
metabolism in type II diabetes. I thought the paper was
interesting, not just for the new data, but because it
supports the underlying concept of Brain Fitness - and more
specifically, in this case, physical intelligence, which I
have defined before as your brains ability to control your
body.

Type II Diabetes in the Body

Type II diabetes is a condition where your body is unable
to regulate blood sugar appropriately. Typically, when you
eat and your blood sugar goes up from the sugars in the
food, your pancreas senses a rise in blood sugar and
releases insulin into your bloodstream. The insulin then
goes around knocking on the doors of all your cells and
tells them to take their share of sugar out of the blood
and use it to make energy.

In type II diabetes, both of these things go wrong. First,
your pancreas loses its ability to sense blood sugar and
release insulin appropriately. Second, the insulin that is
released (or injected) doesn't work as well because the
cells in your body begin to ignore it - or become insulin
resistant.

Type II Diabetes in the Brain?

We also know that there are cells in the brain that sense
blood sugar levels (called glucose-sensing neurons). Their
job is to instruct different parts of your metabolism to
respond appropriately - for example, make energy with the
sugar, convert some of it to fat for later use, burn some
for heat, and a bunch of other things. A fit brain that is
working properly will keep a close watch on the nutrients
floating around in the bloodstream and send out the
appropriate instructions to the body.

The new research shows that in type II diabetics, at least
some of the neurons that are supposed to sense rises in
blood sugar aren't doing their job and that this may be a
part of the disease that we didn't previously appreciate.
Many physicians think of type II diabetes as solely a
disease of the body, but we may need to start thinking
about it as a disease of the brain as well. In fact, it may
be that the brain loses its ability to monitor blood sugar
first, and contributes to the progression of the disease -
that is yet to be determined.

This all plays back to the general concept of Brain Fitness
and that the choices you make on a daily basis affect how
well your brain works and how well it is able to control
everything, including your metabolism. Choosing to eat high
sugar foods on a regular basis will eventually cause cells
in your body and your brain to lose their sensitivity to
blood sugar and wreak havoc on your metabolism.

Fight Back

The good news is that you can improve your sensitivity to
blood sugar (glucose) through eating well and exercising.
Both of these things contribute to bringing your brain and
your body back in tune so that everything will operate more
smoothly. Unfortunately, many people don't make this a
priority until their brains and bodies are so far out of
tune that recovery is extremely difficult.

The body is an amazing thing and has an incredible
tolerance for us mistreating it. This was great for our
survival over hundreds of thousands of years of lack of
food and shelter and a constant threat from out environment
- but today it almost works against us. Because our
metabolism is so good at tolerating us mistreating
ourselves, we often don't know we have a problem until the
problem is out of control. This is why people wait so long
before they become proactive in controlling their own
health.

I encourage everyone to give your brain and your body the
best chance to serve you well. Don't wait until you or your
kids need the medication to try to fix the problem.

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