BOSTON — Scientists for the first time have found a gene that appears to be linked to alcoholism, providing strong new evidence the disease affecting 18 million Americans is caused at least partly by heredity, it was reported today.
A study of tissue from the brains of 70 human cadavers concluded the gene was present in 77% of alcoholics and absent in 72% of non-alcoholics, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
