Researchers have found that guys have been getting drunk for the past 10 million years. Only?

Scientists previously thought humans have been drinking alcoholic brew for 9,000 years now, and then only occasionally. They said a boom in alcoholic drinks started when people learned how to ferment fruit.

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This advent of fermentation technology led to the mastery of this process. Alcoholic beverages later evolved and became integrated into culture. Alcohol is a byproduct of fermenting fruit.

Researchers from the Santa Fe College in Florida examined and mapped human evolution and took a specific enzyme pivotal in metabolizing ethanol. This enzyme known as ADH4 is present in both primates and humans and dates back some 70 million years.

Researchers said ADH4 is abundant in the primate species of chimpanzees and bonobos, the evolutionary ancestors of humans. The enzyme is also present in gorillas, which indicates humans should have already genetically evolved when it came to alcohol tolerance.

Scientists also found out that humans' taste for alcohol comes from this particular enzyme. When primate ancestors descended from trees to walk upright, they subsisted on fallen fruit already colonized by yeast bacteria.

Primates who ate these rotting fruits may have gotten a slight buzz, developing a taste for alcohol.

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