Gettin' Buzzed; No Sex Leads to Alcohol Addiction in Fruit Flies?

San Clemente, US, 03/20/2012 / SubmitMyPR /

Offering some potential insight into the cycle of alcohol addiction, apparently drowning your sorrows with booze after being sex-deprived is not an exclusively human trait. It turns out that fruit flies share those same tendencies as well. According to a recent study done by the University of California, San Francisco sex starved fruit flies were more likely to reach for the metaphoric bottle.

The study found that when male fruit flies were rejected by lady fruit flies after trying to mate, they were way more likely to turn to alcohol-spiked food rather than non-spiked food. Other factors were ruled out to verify that it was indeed the lack of sexual fulfillment that drove the spurned flies to getting one step closer to alcohol addiction. The study suggests that low levels of a chemical called neuropeptide F (NPF) in the these flies could be the source of this drive to seek outside pleasure.

"It's an interesting study," said Rodney Robinson, President and Founder of orange county drug rehab center 449Recovery in San Clemente, CA. "We've known that humans have been doing this since the discovery of alcohol, but the discovery that it happens in organisms as simple as fruit flies is pretty amazing. It provides further proof that those with alcohol addiction may have different DNA and chemistry from the rest of the population, and that it isn't a learned behavior."

The study does not tell the whole story, however. It was shown that similar chemicals (for mammals, the nearest equivalent is called neuropeptide Y) in the human brain tend to occur in similarly low levels in people suffering from depression, PTSD, bipolar, and other mental disorders. This is an important correlation because mental disorders have also been tied to higher alcohol addiction and drug use rates. This offers further proof to the theory that alcohol addiction is a biological rather than social phenomena. 449Recovery and several other orange county rehab centers and others around the nation have believed this theory for years.

The study does not clarify if the lower levels of NPF were related to actual alcohol addiction. Establishing that there is an ongoing pattern for continued alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction with consistently low levels would lend further credence to the notion that NPF is directly related to alcoholism addiction, rather than just heavy drinking in that one instance.

"Every little bit helps," said Robinson. “Our orange county rehab and treatment center's staff has been working in the field of drug and alcoholism recovery for decades. Anything that we can find that better helps us better understand and thus combat the disease of alcohol addiction is something that warrants further investigation."

For more information about 449Recovery orange county rehab Center and alcohol addiction please visit:
www dot 449recovery dot org or call 855-449-4490