The risk of alcohol dependence can be heightened by exposure to high levels of stress in the early years of a person's life, a new study has claimed. Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis scientists carried out the research and they found that 50 per cent of the risk of alcohol abuse was encoded within an individual's genes. The other 50 per cent was made up of various environmental factors - such as levels of stress and the age at which the substance was first consumed. Dr Elliot Nelson was the lead author of the study and he said: "There are many different ways an individual can become alcoholic, some involving heavy genetic risks - some involving specific environmental factors - such as exposure to peers who drink heavily. "He stated that he would like to investigate various other environmental stressors that trigger alcohol dependence to add to this study. The findings come after a recent announcement by the UK's health secretary Andy Burnham that the public are becoming increasingly worried about the levels of alcohol misuse in the country. Posted by Jackson Foster