A Critique of the Genetotrophic Theory of the Etiology of Alcoholism

Abstract

The genetotrophic theory fails to explain why nutritional deficiencies should lead to a craving for alcohol when the deficiencies are in non-alcoholic substances. It confuses cultural with biological groupings to explain group differences in rates of alcoholism. Increased alcohol consumption in rats on vitamin deficient diets, restricted to a choice between alcohol and water, does not support this theory since other workers have shown, by providing a 3d choice (e.g. sucrose soln.), that preference is not specifically for alcohol. Further, since animals do not seek intoxication, their behavior does not parallel that of human alcoholics. Alleged differences in metabolic measurements between human alcoholics and non-alcoholics were based on incorrect statistical interpretation and, in any case, might reflect consequences of alcoholism rather than causal factors.