Given the gaps in understanding the independent and joint effects of ADH1B and ADH1C on alcohol consumption and AUDs, specifically in non-Asian populations, this study addressed the following: (1) association of ADH1B-rs1229984 with multiple alcohol phenotypes (both consumption and AUDs); (2) association of alcohol phenotypes and regulatory ADH1B SNPs (rs1229982, rs1159918); (3) association of ADH1C-rs698 and alcohol phenotypes; and (4) joint effects of ADH1B-rs1229984 and ADH1C-rs698, examined through diplotype analysis. For analysis, each individual SNP was coded as a risk factor, indicating absence of the protective allele (1-3); for diplotype analysis, three risk categories were hypothesized based on absence of protective alleles for ADH1B-rs1229984 and ADH1C-rs698. We used data from a large general population sample of Israeli Jews (Shmulewitz et al., 2010; Shmulewitz et al., 2012). This sample consists of Israelis from a variety of backgrounds with different drinking cultures (Shmulewitz et al., 2012) and some genetic heterogeneity, reflecting contributions from Northern and Southern European ancestral populations, but little Asian or African contributions (Listman et al., 2010).
