Yorkshire folk love a drink, that much we all know. And we don’t need much of an excuse to have an ale, either. Whether it’s a couple down the local with pals after work, a night in front of the footie, date night with the missus or the fact that it’s the weekend – we will always be up for a cheeky few. And now, science has explained the reasoning behind it all.
We all know one or two folks that tend to go a little too far and others that don’t know when to stop. Medical journal, eNeuro, published a study that links addiction to differences in the brain. The study highlights why some folk have more control, and how others can become addicted.
The study sheds light on that one friend that seems to be able to drink daily and not get hooked, while other folks out there become addicted from a lot less alcohol. Dr David Moorman, the co-author and an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said, “Individual differences in brain response to alcohol could indicate propensity for alcohol abuse.” He puts it down to how some brains see alcohol as a bigger reward than others.
“The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is where we study what we consider rewards and what is potentially the problem for some people’s reaction to alcohol,
“We know the OFC is activated during cravings and seeking of drugs of abuse and in response to drug-associated cues.
“However, only a subset of addiction-related studies have investigated the role of OFC in alcohol use.”
Adding to this, co-author of the article John Hernandez said, “The results show that OFC neurons are activated during alcohol seeking based on individual preferences.”… So when we are deciding whether to have a couple of bevs, the OFC neurons are to blame when the missus asks why she’s found you in the pub again.
We’ll, of course, be doing our bit and working on our OFC neurons down the boozer this weekend – as Dr Moorman says, more work needs to be done to “fully explain the nature of alcohol preference”, it seems there’s an answer after all to why we can’t say no to the booze!
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