Chunk #6 — A brief review of major methods used to evaluate alcohol reaction phenotypes — Examples of measures of alcohol reactions across different populations
A different oral alcohol paradigm that focuses on predicting future alcohol-related problems in drinkers who have already developed alcohol binges uses a “peak and plateau” drinking schedule where subjects consume one drink, wait, and then take a second drink (e.g., Arias et al., 2013), allowing the body to react/adjust/react/adjust to alcohol. Because different gene sets might contribute to alcohol sensitivity measured by different paradigms, it may be useful to first carry out separate genetic analyses for single dose and multiple dose paradigms before combining genetic samples into a single overall analysis. Similar considerations apply to potentially different gene sets for IV vs. oral paradigms and retrospective questionnaires versus alcohol challenge-based measures. Note that oral alcohol challenges evaluate how a person responds to alcohol over several hours at a specific time of day and in a laboratory setting.
