London - Man has been boozing almost ten million years longer than previously thought, a study has claimed.
It had been assumed that alcohol was a relatively recent addition to our diet, happening only 9 000 years ago during the advent of food storage.
Researchers, however, now believe the primate ancestors of humans first consumed alcohol ten million years ago.
They identified a variant of the gene ADH4 that emerged about that time, when apes first came down from the trees.
It is thought that this gene mutation allowed them to metabolise fermenting fruit lying on the ground, giving them a selective advantage by enabling them to eat such fruit during times of food scarcity.
Professor Matthew Carrigan, of Santa Fe College in the US, said the finding could help us understand many modern human diseases caused by alcohol. - Daily Mail