On Wed, 11 Jun 2003, gts wrote:

> I don't believe this last part has been established. Where is the
> evidence that the closer a population is to their hunter gatherer roots,
> the more powerful alcohol's negative impact on their well being?
>
> I know that native americans don't handle alcohol well, but they are no
> less distant from their paleolithic ancestors than caucasians. Native
> americans have relied heavily on non-paleo corn (maize) and other grains
> for a long time.

There is a co-relation between the amount of time a group of people have
been drinking alcohol (I'm not talking about rotten fruit) and the
incidence of alcohol addiction and other negative consequences that go
with that.

Some relative examples are as follows:

culture                 exposure to alcohol     alcoholism
-----------------------------------------------------------
medditeranean           long term               low
northern europeans      med term                med
American Indian         short term              high

If someone can explain this as something other than natural selection at
work have at it.

Since most of the world is becoming homogenized and basically consuming
the same booze. I would put all my chips on the line that 20,000 years
from now there would be low occurrence of alcoholism across all cultures.

If you take an inuit who is still living a traditional life and stick him
in a city and feed him Taco Bell and Mcdonalds, there is a good chance
that in a very short time he'll have diabetes, obesity and a host of other
problems.

If you give the same guy some Budweiser, there's a good chance that he'll
become an alcoholic....compared to say someone from Italy or Portugal.
I would classify alcohol addiction as just another Syndrome X disorder or
"disease of civilization".

As many have pointed out, moderate alcohol consumption may not be harmful
or may indeed be helpful...but tell that to an alcoholic who just wrapped
their car around a telephone pole. Some people lack a certain biochemical
reaction in their body that says "stop that's enough alcohol for now".

Clearly people who lack this internal barometer have a lower chance of
surivival and hence reproduction if they consume alcohol. It's not fair
but that's the way it is.

Craig