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Asians are more likely to recover from alcoholism than Caucasians and Africans
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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A mutation in the opioid receptor gene, which nearly half of Asians have, makes it easier for anti-alcohol medication to work.
Asians have a better chance of getting rid of alcoholism than Caucasians and Africans, according to researchers from the University of California in Los Angeles (USA). One of the most common drugs for treating alcohol addiction is naltrexone. It binds to opioid receptors on nerve cells, which also serve as a target for alcohol. As it turns out, there is a common mutation in the Asian genome that makes it easier for this drug to work.
The experiment involved 35 people. Each was given a certain dose of ethanol intravenously, but some of the volunteers swallowed naltrexone beforehand, and some took a placebo. Those who took naltrexone had different reactions to alcohol: some experienced almost no pleasure from alcohol, and a more pronounced intoxication reaction; their craving for alcohol also significantly decreased. These results were confirmed after the scientists checked the volunteers' genes responsible for alcohol metabolism and its innate intolerance.
It turned out that it wasn’t that alcohol was processed faster or caused an allergic reaction. Scientists discovered a mutation in the opioid mu-receptor gene OPRM1, which naltrexone binds to. If this gene had a combination of the nucleic bases AG (adenine-guanine) or GG (guanine-guanine) in a certain position, naltrexone had a greater effect than when it had AA (adenine-adenine). Guanine alone was enough to enhance the drug’s effect.
According to scientists, half of people of the Mongoloid race have at least one G in the right position in the OPRM1 gene. Among Europeans, 20% are lucky owners of such a mutation, among Africans - 5%. The results of this work are published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
It is no secret that there are no two people in the world who would be equally ill and respond equally to treatment. Therefore, such studies, revealing individual characteristics of the disease, seem especially promising for modern medicine.
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