US: Study links blue eyes with alcoholism

A new study has found an interesting link between eye colour and alcohol dependency.

In a study featured in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, researchers from the University of Vermont in the US have found that European-Americans with light-coloured eyes consume more alcohol in comparison to those with dark-coloured eyes.

The strongest alcohol dependency was found to be amongst people with blue-eyes.

Light-coloured eyes in the study represent those with green, grey and brown eyes, while dark-eyed people are those with dark brown eyes.

The study led by Arvis Sulovari, a doctoral student in cellular, molecular and biological sciences, and Dawei Li, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, examined the genetic profiles of approximately 1,263 alcohol-dependent people from a database of over 10,000 people who had been diagnosed with psychiatric diseases, like depressions and drug addiction.

"We still don't know the reason," said Li, reported Yahoo News.

"These are complex disorders. There are many genes, and there are many environmental triggers."

The study aims to find the root cause of alcoholism.

"This suggests an intriguing possibility – that eye color can be useful in the clinic for alcohol dependence diagnosis," said Sulovari.

Earlier in 2000, a Georgia State University study found similar results with light-eyed people found to be more likely than dark-eyed people to abuse alcohol.