Neuropeptide Y polymorphism and alcohol consumption in middle-aged men

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) plays an important role in the hypothalamic regulation of food intake and energy balance. According to recent findings in animals , NPY also seems to be a potent regulator of alcohol consumption. We used t he recently identified Leu(7) to Pro(7) polymorphism in the signal peptide part of NPY to investigate whether the NPY system is associated with alcoho l consumption in humans. The subjects (N = 889) were an ethnically homogeno us, nonselected population sample of middle-aged men from Eastern Finland. The gene variant producing Pro(7) substitution was associated with a 34% hi gher average alcohol consumption, even after adjustment for a number of cov ariates (P = 0.03), The proportion of heavy drinkers (over 230 g of ethanol /week) was also somewhat higher in this group (13.1% vs. 8,2%, P = 0.10). O ur study provides the first evidence that alcohol preference in humans is l ikely to be regulated by the NPY system. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.