--- title: Alcoholism: Why Some Transition from Moderate to Problem Drinkers description: Around 10% of people will develop alcohol disorders, and a new study in mice shows it might be a specific genetic strand. canonical: https://time.com/3528029/drinking-problem-alcohol/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-21T15:00:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:54:42.084Z article:section: Health og:title: The Genetic Reason Why Some Drinkers Can't Stop og:description: Around 10% of people will develop alcohol disorders, and a new study in mice shows it might be a specific genetic strand. og:url: https://time.com/3528029/drinking-problem-alcohol/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d3c3a728137b808/698761f7e20a8726eda82964/482135661.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4800 og:image:height: 2700 og:image:alt: 482135661 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Genetic Reason Why Some Drinkers Can't Stop twitter:description: Around 10% of people will develop alcohol disorders, and a new study in mice shows it might be a specific genetic strand. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d3c3a728137b808/698761f7e20a8726eda82964/482135661.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Genetic Reason Why Some Drinkers Can't Stop > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 21, 2014 3:00 PM UTC  Close up of cocktail in glass Close up of cocktail in glassChris Clor—Getty Images/Blend Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 21, 2014 3:00 PM UTC Around 10% of people will develop alcohol disorders, and [a new study](http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/mp2014120a.html) in mice shows that having a specific genetic strand might be the reason some escalate from moderate to excessive drinkers. Previously, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco showed that moderate drinking activates a protein in the brain called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which might protect against drinking too much. In the new study published in the journal _Molecular Psychiatry_, they study what happens when that threshold into excessive drinking is crossed. When mice consumed generous amounts of alcohol for a long period of time—mimicking the human act of binge drinking—their levels of the protective protein BDNF decreased significantly in a part of their brains where decision-making occurs. One possible reason for this decline, the scientists discovered, was a corresponding increase in genetic material microRNA, including miR-30a-5p. When the researchers increased miR-30a-5p in the mice brains themselves, BDNF went down and mice wanted to drink more, preferring alcohol to water. When the scientists inhibited the miR-30a-5p, the brains returned to normal, and so did the drinking behaviors of the mice. Though mice studies can’t translate directly to humans, the researchers think a similar situation may be happening in human brains during alcohol consumption, and that perhaps certain people are genetically susceptible, as other research has also suggested. 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