Russian alcoholism and the "Mongoloid gene"

Jeremy Page:

SCIENTISTS researching cures for alcoholism and hangovers say that they have found a genetic link between Russians’ traditional weakness for drink and the marauding Mongol armies of Genghis Khan.

As many as 50 per cent of Muscovites are estimated to have inherited Mongol genes that make them absorb more alcohol into the bloodstream and break it down at a slower rate than most Europeans, they say.

That means that they get more drunk and have worse hangovers, and are more likely to become addicted to alcohol, given Russia’s taste for vodka, its harsh climate and the social and economic chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“The difference is huge — in reaction speed, memory, hand tremor — and in how they recover,” Vladimir Nuzhny, of the Health Ministry’s National Narcology Research Centre, said. “On average, 50 per cent of people in Moscow have this Mongoloid gene. So this, we think, is part of the problem.”

As part of the study, the scientists paid 12 volunteer students to drink 350 grams, about a third of a bottle, of vodka in an hour, and then monitored their behaviour.

“That’s a lot by Western standards, but it’s normal for Russia,” Dr Nuzhny told The Times. “At first they thought it was great, because they were being paid to drink, but after a while they realised it was more like work.”

The intoxicated students had to perform a series of tests, including answering questionnaires and playing rally-driving computer games, and they were breathalysed at regular intervals. The scientists even measured their ability to stand up straight.

After sleeping off the effects in a dormitory at the laboratory — which had a karaoke machine — the students were given a slap-up breakfast before doing more tests to measure their hangovers. The study showed that those with the Mongol genes absorbed 50 per cent more alcohol into the bloodstream at peak levels and metabolised it much more slowly than the other students.

“The way they get drunk is completely different. They are also more likely to feel aggressive or depressed,” Dr Nuzhny said. “They do not necessarily look Mongolian, but the gene that governs how they metabolise alcohol is Mongoloid.”

The Mongols swept across Asia and Russia and into Europe in the 13th century and ruled Russia for two centuries. Inter-marriage with the Slavs and other ethnic groups was common.

Scientists have long known that people of Mongol extraction, including Chinese, Koreans and Japanese, have an enzyme for metabolising alcohol that is different from that of Caucasian Europeans.

Dr Nuzhny claims that his study is the first to look at the effect of alcohol on Russians who have inherited Mongol genes. He says that the phenomenon can be explained partly by evolution. The nomadic Mongols, whose only indigenous form of alcohol was fermented mare’s milk, evolved with a different enzyme from the settled Europeans, with their long tradition of producing stronger grape and grain-based alcohol.

Dr Nuzhny’s research is partly funded by pharmaceutical companies trying to develop drugs to cure hangovers and alcoholism.

Russans drink about 15 litres of pure alcohol a head each year, one of the highest rates in the world, and by some estimates one in seven Russians are alcoholics. Alcohol is largely to blame for a fall in life expectancy to less than 59 since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Students of mixed races report suffering more health problems