Probably many have heard that the indigenous people of the north - for example, the Yakuts, Nenets or Chukchi - easily develop alcohol dependence. They say, it is enough for them to drink a sip of vodka or wine to "fly off the rails" … But where does such a reaction to alcohol come from?
Genghis Khan's Gene
There is a myth that the representatives of all Mongoloid races allegedly do not have an active enzyme that breaks down acetaldehyde - a toxic substance that alcohol turns into when it enters the human body. But it is not so. This feature is observed in about half of the inhabitants of China, Japan and Korea. But the body of the Yakuts and other indigenous northerners is distinguished by a high rate of acetaldehyde accumulation. A certain gene is responsible for the conversion of alcohol into acetaldehyde. And the corresponding variation of this gene (it was dubbed "Genghis Khan's genome"), which reduces resistance to alcohol and increases its toxic effect on the body, is found most of all in Japanese and Chinese, in every third Yakut, Arab or Israeli, and in one in ten Russians.
Actually, genes do not affect the propensity to alcoholism at all, but how a person will feel after drinking alcohol. In the 70s and 80s of the last century, scientists found that in some representatives of the Mongoloid races, liver enzymes process alcohol into acetaldehyde 30-100 times faster than in the body of Europeans, and this toxin is broken down very slowly.
Those who did not know the taste of alcohol …
Why is this happening? Let's turn to history. In Greece, Italy, Transcaucasia and other southern regions, the culture of winemaking has been developing for millennia. Since the inhabitants of these places not only produced alcoholic beverages, but also consumed them themselves, over time, the corresponding gene for alcohol resistance was developed in their bodies. Later, this feature began to be inherited. You've probably noticed that southerners are able to drink quite a lot of alcohol without looking too drunk. There are few chronic alcoholics among them.
Promotional video:
As for Russia, our winemaking has never been so developed. In Ancient Russia, alcohol was most often brought from distant lands, or they themselves brewed "brew". They drank on holidays or "on the occasion" … This tradition has survived to this day. But, since the "resistance gene" in the body of Russians is not as "powerful" as in the representatives of southern countries and republics, the chances of a Russian person to sleep, according to experts, are about 50-50.
But the northern peoples are a completely different story. The fact is that before meeting the Russians, they simply did not taste alcoholic beverages. Growing vineyards in the northern regions is problematic, and they somehow did not think of getting alcohol in other ways. Therefore, the coveted variation of the gene in the Yakuts, Evenks and other indigenous northerners is rare.
What happens if a northerner without the "resistance gene" tries alcohol? Of course, someone, having then experienced all the delights of a hangover, will no longer want to touch alcohol. But someone, having experienced euphoria from intoxication, will begin to demand more and more, and will not be able to stop.
The Russian conquerors of the north, having learned about this physiological feature of the aborigines, began to actively use it. A bottle of vodka has become hard currency in Siberia. Locals willingly exchanged furs and minerals for alcohol, they were ready to do anything to get the coveted "laughing water" … By the way, the same thing happened with the Indians during the colonization of America - and according to some ethnographic hypotheses, they and the Russian northerners have in common ancestors …
The problem at the state level
For a couple of centuries of conquering the North, the desired gene variation in many aborigines, alas, did not have time to form. The same Yakutia is now in first place in Russia in terms of the number of chronic alcoholics. And it is almost impossible to cure such people. This has become a national issue and has put the entire nation at risk of extinction. In 2013, the administration of the Republic of Sakha was even forced to introduce significant restrictions on the sale of alcohol. It is planned that in the future, alcoholic beverages will be available only in specialized places. An active prevention of drunkenness and alcoholism is being carried out almost from early childhood.
But at the same time, it cannot be argued that absolutely all Yakuts and representatives of their kindred peoples are predisposed to alcoholism, since, after all, not every one of them possesses the fatal “gene of Genghis Khan”.