Should you go on that second date? A gene that influences how much alcohol we drink may also shape our decisions when choosing a partner.
It鈥檚 no secret that many couples have similar patterns when it comes to alcohol use, but pinning down the underlying reason has been tricky. One explanation could be that a couple鈥檚 drinking habits become more alike over time.
Laurence Howe at the University of Bristol says previous studies on the link between alcohol use and partner choice have relied mostly on self-reported data. 鈥淲e wanted to disentangle the possibilities using a genetic approach,鈥� he says.
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Howe and his team analysed the genetic data of 47,000 couples in the UK Biobank and compared this with each person鈥檚 reported alcohol consumption. In particular, they were interested in a variant of the ADH1B gene, which is known to be associated with heavier drinking.
They found that regular drinkers were more likely to pair up with similar drinkers, and that each person in such a pair was more likely to have this gene variant. People who didn鈥檛 drink very often tended to form relationships with other light drinkers, and both partners in such a couple were more likely to have a different variant of the same gene 鈥� one that is associated with experiencing unpleasant alcohol side effects.
鈥淭his suggests that alcohol consumption directly influences mate choice, adding to the growing evidence that humans are more likely to select a similar mate,鈥� says Howe. 鈥淥ur genotypes cannot be changed by our partner鈥檚 habits.鈥�
However, the study did suggest a person鈥檚 partner can have a small influence on their drinking habits. Each unit increase in a partner鈥檚 weekly alcohol intake was linked to an average 0.26 unit increase in their significant other鈥檚 weekly consumption.
Victoria Jackson at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, says that while the study tackles an interesting question, it has limitations. The 鈥渉eavy drinking鈥� genetic variant has also been linked to lower socioeconomic status, she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 possible that the genetic similarity amongst the couples could be a result of them choosing partners based on other factors.鈥�
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