Nature: Stop Noticing American Indians' Drinking Problems!

Ex-NIH exec: Rather than do anything scientific to help Native Americans binge drink less, scientists should be funded to cover up their problems.

All over the world, there’s a sizable correlation between how long ago a people’s ancestors started drinking alcohol and how bad their alcohol problems are at present. For instance, in the U.S. people of Mediterranean ancestry, such as Jews and Italians, whose ancestors have been drinking wine since before the Pyramids, are less prone to binge drinking and the like than are Brits and Scandinavians, whose ancestors got their hands on alcohol more recently.

In the Book of Genesis, Noah and Lot get falling down drunk and do shameful things. But by the time of the New Testament, Jesus’s first miracle is turning water into wine at the request of his Mom at the wedding feast at Cana.

Perhaps, Middle Easterners evolved in their ability to deal with drinking?

Various aboriginal peoples, such as American Indians, New Zealand Maoris, and Australian Aborigines, didn’t come into contact with alcohol until after 1492 and continue to have terrible problems with drinking. (In contrast, Mexican and Peruvian Indians, along with sub-Saharans, probably had some alcohol before Columbus.)

Similarly, people whose ancestors evolved at high latitudes have problems in Florida and California with skin cancer. But inventions like hats, long-sleeved shirts, sunscreen, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy have helped white people adapt to this new environment.

It would seem like a really good idea for medical researchers to study the biochemistry behind patterns of alcohol troubles and see what could be done to help those whose exposure to alcohol is relatively new.

But the Advanced Conventional Wisdom is that …

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