Legendary music composer Beethoven suffered from genetic liver disease, reveals study

You need not be a music practitioner or a connoisseur to know that Ludwig van Beethoven was one of world’s first celebrated musicians. Born in 1771 in Germany, he composed beautiful melodies throughout his life. Unfortunately, he died young at the age of 56 and had reportedly suffered from a plethora of health issues, such as auditory disorders, gastrointestinal diseases and of course liver failure due to which he succumbed in 1827.  

His hearing loss (since his mid-20s) did leave Beethoven baffled, so much so that he composed a letter saying that his condition be studied by experts.   

Since then, experts have delved into his health by taking a closer look at the DNA extracted from the well-preserved locks of his hair. Back in those days, it was a common practice for friends, families and loved ones to cherish locks of hair and the medical geneticists involved in the study recovered right of them to conduct their research. Recently, one such team who had already sequenced two-third of the composer’s genome and was analysing it to understand his illnesses better traced that he was genetically predisposed to liver disease (he had mutated genes of PNPLA3 and HFE) and even had undiagnosed Hepatitis B, that had probably advanced in the months leading up to his demise.  

The study published in the scientific journal Current Biology by scientists based at the University of Cambridge, London was made possible due to cutting-edge advances in DNA sequencing in recent times from ancient samples. However, there were obstacles along the way too. For instance, one lock didn’t yield any DNA while another proved to be a fake. Then there was a piece belonging to a woman of Ashkenazi Jewish origin. Fortunately, five locks had the DNA in place that matched perfectly and indicated that they all came from the same person of German descent who had liver and viral Hepatitis B infection present, proving it was from Beethoven. However, they didn’t find any genetic evidence that would explain the composer’s hearing loss and gastrointestinal problems, nor his abdominal issue or the prolonged bouts of diarrhoea. What they did find out was that the gastrointestinal issues were definitely not a result of lactose intolerance or celiac disease nor irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).  

In addition, the researchers found out that what tripled the risk of Beethoven’s genetic liver variant was the fact that he was alcoholic. That in turn also caused Hepatitis B. Another striking discovery that was made in this regard was that Beethoven had a non-European ancestor as well, a few generations back. It was found from the best preserved Stumpff Lock. Cool, isn’t it?