Genetics and alcoholism PMC
Blood tests on subjects displaying this effect showed increased levels of acetaldehyde, a breakdown product of alcohol, which resulted in an uncomfortable sensation of warmth in the skin, palpitations and weakness. By the 1980s investigators traced the reaction to an enzyme involved in alcohol metabolism, aldehyde dehydrogenase, and eventually to the gene that encodes it, ALDH1. The Sober House enzyme breaks down acetaldehyde, but slight variations in the gene’s DNA code in these subjects caused the enzyme to work more slowly. When these individuals ingested alcohol, the acetaldehyde–which may be toxic in high doses–was building up in their bodies. AUD…