Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that being addicted to alcohol can increase one’s risk of obesity.
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t has been noted by researchers in recent times that those who have a family history of alcoholism were more likely to be obese than others who did not have that likelihood.
According to study author Richard A. Grucza, PhD., this new study is able to demonstrate a cross-heritability between alcoholism and obesity.
However, it is stressed that it isn’t just one’s genes (it was seen that women with a family history of alcoholism are more at risk of obesity) but also the environment that has an impact on one’s propensity.
Researchers think that it could be the fact that the sort of food we eat interacts with some of the brain areas which are the same as those that govern addictive drugs.
Researchers say that it is a “combination of sugar, salt and fat — that appeal to what are commonly called the reward centers in the brain,” that could explain this link between alcohol abuse and obesity.
