Why stop us from using our ADH4?

Alcohol is a drug toxic to virtually every system in our bodies. So why do we drink alcohol? One reason maybe that alcohol is so easy to make. Opium, cannabis and cocaine come from special plants but alcohol is made by fermenting sugar which is ubiquitous in nature. But the real reason is that Mother Nature has given us the power to drink alcohol in moderation by giving us a special gene which makes an enzyme called Alcohol Dehydrogenase, or ADH4, to metabolise alcohol in our bodies. Some scientists think that this gene appeared 9,000 years ago but Matthew Carrigan and Steven Benner analysed genes of 19 modern primates to conclude that the enzyme appeared 50 million years ago, wrote Sarah CP Williams. Scientists speculate that the need for this enzyme arose when climate change turned forests into grasslands and ancient hominids started foraging on the ground instead of living solely in trees. Getting drunk on the ground would make them easy prey so this gene developed to digest alcohol in over-ripe fruits which had fallen to the ground, writes Richa Malhotra. Ancient ADH4 was useful to digest geraniol from geranium plants, as well as cinnamyl, coniferyl and anisyl alcohols from cinnamon, conifer and anise plants. Other primates also have this enzyme which gives them a tolerance for alcohol. Humans started brewing beer thousands of years ago. Seems that the culture of brewing beer arose in different countries independently. It was used as payment in ancient times, writes Professor Linda Raley. There are records of beer in Africa, both North and South America, Europe and in China and Japan in Asia. But not in India. Why not? In 1620, Pilgrims were forced to land at Plymouth Rock because their beer supplies were running low. and so began the US of A. Brewing beer changed the nature of yeast from that of the wild variety, genetic analysis has found. Many different beers are available in other countries but the choice is restricted in India. Why? Because of politicians. They have seen this as a means of extorting taxes from citizens, by labeling it as a sin. However, taxes are useful only if you win elections so some politicians promise to ban alcohol if elected. Which is what Nitish Kumar did in Bihar. Unfortunately for him, it backfired badly because his party, the JD(U) won 71 seats in 2015, compared to 115 in 2010, while Lalu Prasad's RJD increased its share of seats from 22 in 2010 to 80 in 2015. If taxes on beer are reduced drastically people will drink beer instead of spirits which have 6 times the alcohol content and cause more damage. Instead politicians behave like thugs and force people to travel elsewhere to have a party. No wonder we are way down on the Happiness Index. Get rid of politicians. Drink to that. Cheers.