The Difficulty of using a Biological Marker for Alcohol Use: A Recent Historical Overview

According to the National Health Interview Survey from 2011, 52% of adults over the age of 18 in the United States are regular drinkers [1]. However, because of the difficulty of defining alcoholism scientifically, there are few widespread statistics regarding the proportion of this group who are problem drinkers. This brings us to the field of science. Scientists have wanted to set a biological marker on alcoholism to track alcohol use and determine what separates a regular drinker from an alcoholic. A biological marker could increase the effective surveillance of rehabilitation, gather data from patients more effectively, help in overcoming patient denial and treat alcoholism scientifically and objectively. However, while some tests have shown more consistency than others, there still does not exist an ideal biological marker for alcoholism and related treatment. The complexity of chemicals involved and patient genetic predisposition make this pursuit even more complex. In this paper I will discuss the more prominent and significant biological markers used in the past and present to detect alcohol use, explain their association to alcohol consumption and their functionality in the field.