Maximum number of drinks (MaxDrinks) defined as “Maximum number of drinks consumed in a 24-hour period” is an alcoholism-related phenotype that could be a surrogate to alcohol dependence (AD) and a quantitative measure to grade non-alcoholic individuals (Bierut et al., 2002). There have been an increasing number of reports on binges, alcohol-related life problems such as physiological complications, alcohol-related emotional/psychiatric symptoms in the groups with larger maximum number of drinks (Schuckit et al., 1998). Family, twin and adoption studies have shown that the heritability of MaxDrinks (Saccone et al., 2000) is approximately 0.5. Studies of the genetic basis of MaxDrinks can provide more information for the understanding of AD, and enhance the development of efficient prevention strategies and personalized treatments. Saccone et al. (2000) conducted genome-wide linkage analysis of MaxDrinks and detected linkage region of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene cluster on chromosome 4 (LOD = 3.5). Furthermore, Saccone et al. (2005) detected linkage to chromosomes 2 and 7 using a two-stage method. De Andrade et al. (2005) identified suggestive linkage on chromosomes 1, 4, 10 and 13. Linkage for MaxDrinks
