There is an opinion that northern peoples are more prone to alcohol dependence and intoxication. Let's figure out what is wrong with the physiology of the northerners and how they differ from the rest?
Could it be genes?
One myth, long-established in history, says that all representatives of the Mongoloid race lack one enzyme that breaks down acetaldehyde.
That is, the body of these people cannot digest alcohol that gets inside. However, this opinion is not 100% true. Indeed, this enzyme is not active in half of the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. But the northerners have it, on the contrary, and even accumulate acetaldehyde much faster than the southerners.
Another gene, called Genghis Khan's Gene, is responsible for human perception of alcohol, worsening human well-being and increasing alcohol toxicity. This gene is usually present in residents of Japan and China, but also in every third representative of Yakutia and Israel, and in one in ten residents of Russia.
Therefore, genes cannot in any way affect whether a person becomes addicted to alcohol or not. Physiology is solely responsible for how the drinker will feel.
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What do geography and history say?
If you look at history, you can understand that the taste of alcohol is not at all familiar and familiar to northerners. In southern countries such as Spain, Italy, Georgia, winemaking has long been almost the only source of income. Of course, the culture of drinking alcoholic beverages has been instilled there since adolescence. So the southerners have developed a gene for resistance to any beverages containing alcohol.
In Russia, there has never been a craze for winemaking, since our climate is much more severe than the Italian one. In Russia, alcohol was usually imported from far away, and it was customary to drink only for major events. Therefore, the gene for resistance in the Russian people was less developed, which means that the probability of becoming easily and quickly drunk rises to 50%.
As for the northern peoples, they learned about the existence of alcohol only after meeting the Russians. Only then did they try alcohol for the first time. Naturally, the outlandish drinks quickly won the respect of the northern countries, which the Russians did not fail to take advantage of. The bottle of vodka quickly became used as currency, exchanged for furs and other goods. They say the same situation happened with the Americans.
Government measures to combat alcoholism
The problem of alcoholism has become fatal, and it must be solved at the state level. The number of alcoholics, for example, in Yakutia has reached such a level that the authorities decided to limit the sale of alcohol in the Sakha Republic.
