Background: Genetic variation in ethanol metabolism may have an influence on both alcohol drinking habits and the susceptibility to health effects of alcohol drinking. Such influences are likely to bias exposure-disease associations in epidemiologic studies of health effects of alcohol drinking. In a Caucasian population, we examined the association of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) genetic variants with alcohol drinking habits, biomarkers of alcohol exposure, and risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Methods: The study population consisted of 1,216 Danish men and women aged 15-77 years participating in a health examination in 1998. The health examination included a self-administered questionnaire (alcohol drinking habits), a physical examination (blood pressure), and various blood tests [alanine aminotransferase (ALAT), erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (E-MCV), and lipids]. ADH and ALDH gene variants were determined by standard techniques. Data were analyzed by regression analyses adjusted for relevant confounders.
Results: Self-reported alcohol drinking was significantly associated with increasing levels of ALAT, E-MCV, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and blood pressure. The ALDH1b ala69val variant was associated with nondrinking and total alcohol intake. The ALDH2 promoter variant was associated with binge-drinking, and the ALDH1b1 ala69val polymorphism was associated with diastolic blood pressure. We did not find any statistically significant interactions between any of the gene variants and alcohol consumption in relation to the various outcomes.
Conclusions: In this Caucasian population sample, we found evidence to support that genetic variation in ethanol metabolism may influence drinking habits, but no statistically significant gene-environment interactions. More large-scale epidemiologic studies are needed to confirm theses results and to further investigate genetic susceptibility to the effects of alcohol drinking.