Brain’s Response to Sweets May Indicate Risk for Development of Alcoholism
Several human and animal studies have shown a relationship between a preference for highly sweet tastes and alcohol use disorders. Furthermore, the brain mechanisms of sweet-taste responses may share common neural pathways with responses to alcohol and other drugs. A new study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has found that recent drinking is related to the orbitofrontal-region brain response to an intensely sweet stimulus, a brain response that may serve as an important phenotype, or observable characteristic, of alcoholism risk.
“Our study was designed to determine which brain areas responded to sweet taste — as compared to plain water — and the extent to which these brain responses were related to subjects’ binge-drinking patterns, the number of alcoholic drinks subjects consumed per day when drinking,” explained Kareken.