There is no shortage of research showing how alcohol harms your body. While there are many long-term consequences to drinking, alcohol also produces immediate negative effects such as drowsiness and/or sedation, loss of balance and coordination, and a depressive mood. Surprisingly, how we react to these symptoms could actually protect us from developing an alcohol use disorder.

People are more likely to be heavy drinkers if the negative effects of alcohol don’t bother them. Because alcohol causes so many health complications (including cancer, liver disease, and heart disease), it’s important to limit drinking. And you might think the solution is simple: find the difference between people who are sensitive to alcohol’s negative effects and those who aren’t bothered by them. Scientists are still trying to figure that out.

Scientists from the University of Illinois-Chicago found that rats, like people, can be either sensitive or resistant to alcohol’s negative effects. In their study, the rats that were sensitive to the negative effects of alcohol eventually stopped drinking sugar water when they realized it was paired with alcohol. The animals who didn’t mind the side effects kept drinking.

Recognizing that groups respond differently to alcohol’s side effects allows scientists to ask more targeted questions to better understand the biological risk factors for alcohol use disorder in humans. Some of these questions involve exploring the differences between these two groups in brain activity, gene expression and protein expression. And if those differences can explain why people resistant to the negative effects of alcohol are more likely to drink heavily, can scientists develop a treatment to protect the resistant group from developing an addiction to alcohol?

Learning more about our responses to alcohol may lead to improved ways to treat and prevent alcohol use disorder.