There are people who are more naturally inclined than others to drink alcohol, and a way to discover it may be in your hands. It’s all to do with hormones.
Look at your hands. Is your ring finger longer than your index finger? If yes, do you have tendency to drink more alcohol, says a new one. But why?
The answer lies in our understanding of differences between the sexes. Some differences between the sexes are influenced by social factors, but others have their roots in our biology.
There are marked differences between the amount of alcohol men and women drink, with men consuming much more. The reason for this and many other differences between the sexes can be found in our exposure to sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) in the uterus.
The male fetus secretes testosterone from the testicles, while small amounts from the mother’s bloodstream diffuse into male and female fetuses. At the same time, the mother’s estrogens also reach male and female fetuses. Thus, men have a higher prenatal testosterone relative to estrogens than women.
Testosterone causes so-called “organizational” changes in the brain and other organs of the fetus. These changes are then activated in boys by a increase in testosterone during puberty.
A record of our testosterone and estrogen difference is believed to be found in the relative lengths of our index and ring fingers (second and fourth fingers or 2D:4D).
I.e, the ratio between the fingers (2D:4D) reflects exposure to sex hormones in the wombso a long fourth finger indicates a high testosterone level and a low estrogen level.
Comparisons between many species with five-digit limbs have shown that sex differences in digit ratio are widespread.
In animal experiments, in which testosterone was added at the fetal stage, the result was a descent with the masculine form of digit ratio in mice, rats and monkeys. This type of experiment is unethical and cannot be carried out on human beings, which is why it remains the subject of debate.
Compared to women, men have greater alcohol consumption and more deaths associated with alcohol abuse.
Could this sexual difference be influenced in the fetus by “organizational” changes caused by testosterone and estrogen? A study carried out by my colleagues and I looked into this question, relating digit ratios to alcohol consumption patterns.
Alcohol consumption habits
Participants were students at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. THE alcohol abuse It’s one of death in Poland.
O number of annual cases increased from 4.6 to 7.0 per 100,000 since the beginning of the decade. And men are nine times more likely to die from alcohol-related causes than women.
The study included 169 women and 89 men who completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Audit), which asks questions about people’s drinking habits.
It is verified that participants with longer ring fingers than the indicators showed higher scores in Audit and higher alcohol consumption per week. The relationship was present in both men and women, but was stronger in men.
Currently, several have found a relationship between long ring fingers in relation to index fingers and alcohol consumption.
A big one on the Internet about self-measurement dfinger length revealed that national averages and individual values of finger proportions predicted alcohol consumption.
Studies carried out in Europe and Asia revealed that alcohol-dependent patients have ring fingers that are too long in relation to their index fingers. Our data corroborate these conclusions and extend them to people who are not alcohol dependent.
Finger ratio reports provide a window into our very early development.
On the positive side, a longer ring finger (relative to the index finger) is associated with a longer healthy heart and high running performance long distance, football, rugby, basketball, skiing and surfing.
On the contrary, it is related to autism, ADHD, Internet addiction and prostate cancer.
The relationship between the relative length of the second and fourth digits and alcohol consumption is yet another piece of the puzzle that highlights the powerful effect of prenatal sex hormones in our behavior and physiology.
