There’s good news and there’s bad news. And it all depends on one thing: the colour of your eyes.
A study by genetic researchers at the University of Vermont, shows one particular eye colour means you have a greater chance of becoming an alcoholic.
Related: I worry my partner’s an alcoholic. But what does that make me?
The eye colour?
Blue.
The study is the first to make a direct connection between a person’s eye colour and alcohol dependence, Science Daily reports.
The research also suggests eye colour also determines a greater chance of many other psychiatric illnesses.
Led by Arvis Sulovari, a doctoral student in cellular, molecular and biological sciences, and assistant professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Dawei Li, the results “suggests an intriguing possibility – that eye color can be useful in the clinic for alcohol dependence diagnosis”, Science Daily says
Li said “European Americans with light-coloured eyes – including green, grey and brown in the centre – had a higher incidence of alcohol dependency than those with dark brown eyes, with the strongest tendency among blue-eyed individuals.”
Almost 50 per cent of the American population have a blue-based eye colour.
The authors are yet to determine a reason for the results.
Li’s and Sulovari’s research used an extensive database, and filtered out the alcohol-dependent patients with European ancestry. After Sulovari noticed the eye-colour connection, they retested their analysis three times, arranging and rearranging the groups to compare age, gender and different ethnic or geographic backgrounds, such as southern and northern parts of the continent.
These initial but vital studies are still not finished with Li wanting to delve deeper into the cultural background and genetic makeup and ultimately discover the mechanisms of mental illness quoted as saying “A large number is still missing, is still unknown.”
One thing we know for sure is that we are all now mentally running through the list of people we know (ourselves included) who are dependent on alcohol and calculating their eye colour. Ring true?
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I hardly know my husband of 40 years. Or so the study says.
DEBRIEF DAILY