Men are twice as likely to abuse alcohol as women, say scientists from Columbia and Yale Universities. For this purpose, they study the effect of alcoholic beverages on the brains of the stronger sex, writes Biological Psychiatry. The scientists study on a special computer tomography, as a result of visual technology, how the amount of dopamine in the brain changes after the consumption of alcohol. Dopamine synthesis increases the feeling of pleasure. Its values ​​increase, for example, with sex, as well as with the use of alcohol and drugs. In the study, scientists found that when drinking beer or wine, dopamine increases twice as much in men than in women, which also determines the higher degree of pleasure from the drink in them. Naturally, this dependence predetermines the higher tendency of the representatives of the stronger sex to addictions, and not only to alcohol, explains the head of the study Dr. Nina Urban from the University of Columbia. With drug use, the male brain also reported a twice as strong response-response in the ventral striatum, an area that is activated in pleasure and addiction. The results of the study also explain the worsening of the man’s condition when he abuses alcohol – in order to achieve an increase in dopamine and, accordingly, to experience pleasure over time, it is necessary to consume an increasing amount of alcohol, i.e. the brain gets used to the constant amounts. To establish the differences in the neurochemical mechanisms in the pleasure of sex and the consumption of alcohol, according to scientists, will be a serious step in the fight against alcoholism. Alcoholism therapy may include a special sexual activity program…