Rice wine production selected for genes that make drinking unpleasant

Evidence

It seems that as soon as people domesticated rice, they quickly figured out how to make rice wine. Based on other historical episodes, this probably created alcohol-related problems for rice farmers, which favored any ADH variants that make drinking less fun. Without the cultural evolution of, first, rice agriculture and, second, rice wine, there might be no booze-inhibiting variant of ADH1B . — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 290

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cultural evolution can create selection pressures stronger than natural ones — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 282; Adopting cheese technology can halt a population’s lactase gene evolution — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 295; The onset date of rice agriculture predicts half the ADH1B gene variation — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 288 (+2 more)