Drinking...Its in the genes! Options

[namjanurse7]

Last year, in my Psychology class, there was some statistics about Alcoholism in Different Countries. The interested thing I saw on the statistics was that Korea had the highest percentage of alcoholism at 22%. China having 4-6%, USA having 12%, Canada having 14%, and Russia close to Korea at 20%. 22% meant that 22% of the people who drinks alcohol in Korea are alcoholics. How can a small country like Korea have a higher percentage than China? I thought about it and I think this might be the reason.

Hundreds and thousands of years ago, Koreans were living with great pressure and also fear. During the ancient times, other countries would invade or attack Korea often. Many times, they were helpless. If they lost, they would head back to their homes and drink alcohol excessively due to their lost. Also having a small country, they will felt more pressured and also had more fear within themselves. Ultimately making stress, fear, etc. lead to alcoholism. After a long time(modern times) , I think the main reason Korean have the highest alcoholism and Koreans can drink a lot is because its in our GENES!!

How can Russia have a high alcoholism rate even with a big country? I think weather is the main reason here. Before, many Russians could not go outside due to their climate and the temperature. If they went outside, they would freeze to death. So friends, relatives, uncles etc. would gather together and drink the hell up. As time passed, alcohol consumption level will great in their genes
what ya guys think, opinions?

[FrenchVanillaNYC]

Ehh....

Anybody saw the parody of the "oo yoo" song?
"So ju, choh a so ju..."

[EvilAsianDude]

I dont think it works that way, secondly its in percentiles and not actual figures. China does possess more drinkers however in percentiles they are lower.

furthermore alcohol seems to be a big part of korean culture. Therefore environment does play a part in alcoholism. I do still believe that its in our genes for us to drink excessivly. Although I cant give numbers. Alcohol doesnt have much to do with stress in korean culture.

Koguryo, Paekchae and Shilla were notorious for being heavy drinkers. They were also notorious for its promiscuity and lack of morals in certain areas. They also loved to party. Alcohol also happens to be a commodity. The average poor person could not buy or drink frequently or have sex with several women while holding large elaborate parties. The nobles however were. Korean culture during koguryo, paekchae and shilla times was all about that. They had a lot of parties and drinking. Like I mentioned earlier it was usually the nobles who participated in these events. And these nobles were alcoholics, and so they passed on MANY MANY children(all the women they have sex with+ they were rich so they could have more children) who inherited a tendency to drink.

Once confucianism came to korea we lost our promiscuous and heavy partying ways. We became very conservative. Confucianism however does not deal with alcohol so we kept our alcoholic ways.

I really really hate alcoholism in korea. Its sad and patheic. Theres this one person in my distant familly whos a alcoholic and beats his wife frequently. Im also related to a couple of other people who died from excessive alcohol either by cancer or poisoning. Our society today suffers from so many problems today

-b!tchy women and probally the highest divorce rate in the world(most divorces initated by women who do it for money).
-excessive materialism from korean women
-Alcoholism
-Hypocrisy in korean society
-Corrupt government(south korea ranked poorly in a corruption index survey)
-too many people addicted to video games
-children today are so danm rude with bad attitudes.

I know other countries have their own problems but we should at least try to solve. But we dont, the government doesnt want to fight corruption since so many of those in the government are corrupt. So many addicted to alcohol and so many women b!tching about their right to divorce anyone they want once their husbands no longer satisfy them with the money they want.

our culture is to blame for the most part. We have a great culture but it also has many flaws to it. We should really change it. If that happens our alcoholism should atleast drop below 15%.

[namjanurse7]

interesting response i found

Scientists claim that almost half of the Russian population inherited Mongol genes consequently causing more alcohol to be absorbed by blood. Russians also require more time to fully digest alcohol than Europeans for instance. This means that Russians drink more heavily, suffer from severe hang-over and are overall more susceptible to become alcohol dependent, especially taking into account Russian love for vodka, tough climate and social-economic chaos in the country since the collapse of the USSR. (Tough times)

"The difference is tremendous-it can be noticed from one's reactions, shaking hands, and so on," stated Vladimir Nuzhny from the National Narcological Research Center of the Ministry of Health. "On average, 50% of people in Moscow possess such Mongol gene. We assume that this particular gene is to blame," said Nuzhny.

Article:
Japanese gene

However, she said there was little idea as to why the gene should have an effect on alcohol dependence.

Other races are also thought to have genes which have an impact on their ability to consume alcohol.

The best known is the gene which controls the ability to metabolise alcohol.

As many as 50% of Chinese and Japanese lack the gene - this causes obvious symptoms when they drink like facial flushing, dizziness and nausea.

Explains Hang@@ks are also more similar to Monguls and maybe Russia???

This post has been edited by namjanurse7: Aug 22 2005, 05:03 PM

[CJK]

i remember russia blaming their alcoholism problems on their mongol genes. here, i found the article:

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/360/11...alcoholism.html

[The Lateman]

dude, the russians blame EVERYTHING on the mongols. all their problems seriously. whine a lot about what happend 800 years ago.

[Midz]

dude, the russians blame EVERYTHING on the mongols. all their problems seriously. whine a lot about what happend 800 years ago.

That's quite a surprise...but it's interesting to share with you guys that Dunedin, a small town in NZ is said to be the no.1 in the world with worst drinking problems.....would you guys believe that beers are sold cheaper that mineral water here??....no wonder the students prefer the beers instead 2

[Midz]

dude, the russians blame EVERYTHING on the mongols. all their problems seriously. whine a lot about what happend 800 years ago.

That's quite a surprise...but it's interesting to share with you guys that Dunedin, a small town in NZ is said to be the no.1 in the world with worst drinking problems.....would you guys believe that beers are sold cheaper that mineral water here??....no wonder the students prefer the beers instead 2