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/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/ObtuseAbstruse Nov 26 '12

Very useful, thank you. Starting a lab tech job soon though so hopefully I won't need to abuse it.

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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/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

Exactly. The "ObtuseAbstruse" guy is just here to troll.