Genetic studies of complex phenotypes, such as level of response to alcohol, often have advantages when they are conducted in well-defined populations such as Native American tribes living on reservations (Lander and Schork, 1994). A once popular notion, called the firewater myth, proposed based on anecdotal observations, that Native American Indians are more sensitive to the effects of alcohol and thus get drunk more easily (see Leland, 1976). In one empirical study, Native American Mission Indians, like Caucasian sons of alcoholics, were actually found to have less intense objective and subjective effects of alcohol in an alcohol challenge paradigm. Additionally, participants with at least 50% Native American heritage reported less intense effects of alcohol than did those with less than 50% Native American heritage, despite equivalent blood alcohol concentrations (Garcia-Andrade et al., 1996, 1997; Ehlers et al., 1998, 1999). Therefore this population may be an important one for the study of the genetics of level of response to alcohol as a potential risk factor for the development of alcohol dependence.
