Figure 1.
Mutual associations among nutrition, genetic background with epigenetic changes, and environmental factors forming the basis of addiction (Modified from Beayno, et al. [2]). The expression of a phenotype, both on a cellular and organismal level, is not only dependent on the hereditary luggage but may be also modulated by nutritional and environmental factors. This is the interplay of nonmodifiable variables describing the genotype and modifiable variables describing nutritional and environmental factors. Alcohol abuse modifies the structure of chromatin and modulates gene expression through epigenetic changes. In a feedback loop, this neural remodeling conversely reinforces the abuse of alcohol. This is hypothesized to move alcohol abuse through the stages that eventually lead to addiction.