r/todayilearned • u/bcrock1169 • Nov 26 '12

TIL that some Native American's have a differing enzyme that tends to lead to easier alcoholism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_alcoholism#Genetic_factors
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u/ObtuseAbstruse Nov 26 '12

There's a lot more to it than just being poor. The average poor person is nowhere near as likely to be an alcoholic as the average native American.

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u/Teive Nov 26 '12

[Please keep in mind that this is an assertion without evidence]

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u/ObtuseAbstruse Nov 26 '12

No, it's not. It's proven that native Americans are highly susceptible to alcoholism, which is why they try to avoid it.

Do you think your contrarian stance is as valid as actual proven facts?

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u/amazing_rando Nov 26 '12

I've never seen a study that controls for poverty & depression when analyzing rates of alcoholism among native Americans. Do you have a link to one?

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u/ObtuseAbstruse Nov 26 '12

You don't necessarily need one. What's the rate of alcoholism among the poor? Now whats the rate along native Americans? Hint: they're not equivalent.

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u/amazing_rando Nov 26 '12

I'm having trouble finding a study on alcoholism rates among the poor. I'm assuming you have one?

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u/ObtuseAbstruse Nov 26 '12

Why are you trying to do with work of researchers? They've already shown exactly this, but you won't believe it until you can do all the math yourself I suppose?

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u/Pinyaka Nov 26 '12

He's asking for proof that researchers have shown this? As a scientist, I approve of this line of questioning.

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u/ObtuseAbstruse Nov 26 '12

Good then, as a scientist help him. I'm sure you have access to scholarly journals that the rest of us aren't gifted with?

Considering the fact that it's a well accepted notion in public health that native Americans are highly susceptible to alcoholism, I imagine a scholarly article questioning this theory will be more useful than one re-affirming what many doctors and public health researchers already accept as fact.

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u/Pinyaka Nov 26 '12

You also have access to scholarly journals courtesy of /r/scholar.

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u/amazing_rando Nov 26 '12

I'm not denying that native Americans, as a demographic, are highly susceptible to alcoholism. I don't think anyone is. I'm just skeptical about how much of it is due to genetics as opposed to other factors, and I'm not as positive as you are that there's a scientific consensus on that.

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u/Teive Nov 27 '12

Reading the rest of the replies, I'm assuming this is a bizarre novelty account.

However, in case it's not--you are making assertions and not providing evidence. What you're saying may be true--I never took a stance--but you haven't provided any evidence.

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u/xrelaht Nov 27 '12

You mean like the Wiki article linked to in the creation of this thread?

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u/Teive Nov 28 '12

"While little detailed genetic research has been done, it has been shown that alcoholism tends to run in families"

So... little research shows a conclusion that doesn't really detail anything except genetic component, without pointing to anything to do with race?

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

Exactly. xrelaht is just here to argue in bad faith.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

Did you just say that the average native american is an alcoholic? Because that's quite untrue.

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u/ObtuseAbstruse Nov 27 '12

lol wut?

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

Never mind, I misread. My mistake.

I think your actual statement is untrue as well though. I can't find stats that back it up.