Although several GWAS, including our recent study in EAs and AAs, identified risk loci for AD (Park et al., 2013, Gelernter et al., 2014, Treutlein et al., 2009, Schumann et al., 2011), GWAS for the “MaxDrinks” trait have not yielded robust associations in EAs or AAs (Kapoor et al., 2013, Pan et al., 2013, Heath et al., 2011). A nominally significant association (rs9512637 on chromosome 13, p=1.2 x 10-7) for a heaviness of alcohol drinking factor score was found in a large Australian twin population (Heath et al., 2011), in which the SNP density was relatively low. Several recent meta-analyses from large consortium samples (the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) and the Study of Addiction: Genes and Environment (SAGE) revealed no genome-wide significant markers for this phenotype (Kapoor et al., 2013, Pan et al., 2013). However, multiple loci approached significance, including SNPs at LMO1, PLCL1, KCNB2, and DDC (Kapoor et al., 2013, Pan et al., 2013). One study identified a locus on C12orf51 associated with alcohol consumption in Korean men at an extremely high level of significance
