Blue-Eyed Are More Likely To Become Alcoholic: Study

Women watch out. The blue-eyed boy next door could be an alcoholic in the making.

A study by researchers from University of Vermont found an association between a person's eye color and alcohol dependence. European Americans with light-colored eyes had higher incidence of alcohol dependence, with blue-eyed people topping the chart.

"This suggests an intriguing possibility - that eye color can be useful in the clinic for alcohol dependence diagnosis," says Aris Sulovari, one of the study's lead authors.

Researchers made their findings using data from nearly 10,000 people, mostly African and European Americans who were diagnosed with more than on psychiatric disorder including depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder besides alcohol and drug dependence.

While the study's authors call for more research to explain the link, they noted that the gene that codes for eye color lines up along the same chromosome which has genes related to excessive alcohol use. Those with alcohol dependence, 1,263 people in number, helped researchers identify the link between eye color and alcoholism.

"What has fascinated me the most about this work has been investigating the interface between statistics, informatics and biology. It's an incredible opportunity to study genomics in the context of complex human diseases," Sulovari said.

The study has been published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics: Neuropsychiatric Genetics (Part B).