Taste responses in alcohol-dependent men
TL;DR: The aim of the present study was to compare taste responses to sweet, bitter, sour and salty solutions in male alcoholics and control subjects and found that the groups did not differ in terms of rated intensity or pleasantness.
Abstract: The aim of the present study was to compare taste responses to sweet, bitter, sour and salty solutions in male alcoholics and control subjects. The groups did not differ in terms of rated intensity or pleasantness of sucrose (1-30%), quinine (0.001-0.005%), citric acid (0.02-0.1%) and sodium chloride (0.18-0.9%) solutions. The proportion of sweet-likers was also similar in both groups.
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TL;DR: How sugars interact with regulatory neurochemicals in the brain to affect both energy intake and energy expenditure is discussed and the relation between sweet taste and drug reward is investigated, although the relevance to humans is unclear.
163 citations
TL;DR: Fats and sugars could affect central reward systems, thereby increasing food intake, and might have an additional effect on energy expenditure, which may contribute to the observed increase in the body weight of populations from affluent societies during the past few decades.
Abstract: The appetite for specific foods and nutrients may be under neuroregulatory control. In animal studies, fat intake is increased by both opioids and galanin and reduced by enterostatin, whereas carbohydrate intake is increased by neuropeptide Y (NPY). However, what may be affected is the consumption of preferred foods rather than macronutrients. Fat and sugars are highly preferred whether consumed separately or as mixtures in foods. Studies suggest that sustained consumption of sugars and fats may have additional metabolic consequences; among these are neurochemical changes in brain sites involved in feeding and reward, some of which are also affected by drugs of abuse. Furthermore, the consumption of fats and sugars alters tissue expression of uncoupling proteins, which are also influenced by neuroregulatory peptides and may be markers of energy expenditure. These data suggest that these palatable nutrients may influence energy expenditure through changes in central neuropeptide activity. Fats and sugars could affect central reward systems, thereby increasing food intake, and might have an additional effect on energy expenditure. Such palatable substances may contribute to the observed increase in the body weight of populations from affluent societies during the past few decades.
157 citations
TL;DR: The data support the hypothesis that sweet consumption and drug self-administration are closely related and genetically influenced, and the HiS and LoS lines emerge as ideal addiction-prone and addiction-resistant models, respectively, with vulnerability or resilience factors that will inform prevention and treatment strategies for drug abuse.
Abstract: A positive relationship between the consumption of sweetened dietary substances (e.g. saccharin and sucrose) and drug abuse has been reported in both the human and other animal literature. The proposed genetic contribution to this relationship has been based on evidence from behavioral, neurobiological, and linkage studies in heterogeneous and homogeneous animal populations. Initial work in several laboratories indicated that rodents that are selected for high alcohol consumption also display an increased preference for sweets compared with low alcohol-consuming animals. More recently, Sprague-Dawley rats have been selectively bred based on high saccharin (HiS) or low saccharin (LoS) consumption, and these lines represent an ideal opportunity to determine whether a reciprocal genetic relationship exists between the consumption of sweetened substances and self-administration of drugs of abuse. The purpose of this review is to examine a series of studies on the HiS and LoS rats for drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior using laboratory animal models that represent critical phases of drug abuse in humans. The data support the hypothesis that sweet consumption and drug self-administration are closely related and genetically influenced. Other characteristics of HiS and LoS rats are discussed as possible mediators of the genetic differences such as activity, impulsivity, novelty reactivity, stress, and emotionality. The interaction of sweet preference with biological variables related to drug abuse, such as age, sex, and hormonal influences, was considered, as they may be additive vulnerability factors with consumption of sweet substances. In the studies that are discussed, the HiS and LoS lines emerge as ideal addiction-prone and addiction-resistant models, respectively, with vulnerability or resilience factors that will inform prevention and treatment strategies for drug abuse.
118 citations
TL;DR: The results of this study support the hypothesis that sweet-liking is associated with a genetic vulnerability to alcoholism.
Abstract: Background: The relationship between a hedonic response to sweet tastes and a propensity to excessive alcohol drinking is supported by both animal and human studies. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that the genetic risk for alcoholism as measured by a paternal history of alcoholism in young social drinkers is associated with sweet-liking, defined as rating the strongest offered sucrose solution (i.e., 0.83 M) as the most palatable during the standard sweet test.
Methods: Participants were 163 subjects (39% male) without a lifetime history of alcohol or drug abuse or dependence. Eighty-one subjects had a paternal history of alcoholism (FH+), and 82 did not (FH−). Each subject rated a series of sucrose solutions for intensity of sweetness and palatability. Subjects were categorized as sweet-likers if they rated the highest sucrose concentration as the most pleasurable.
Results: The estimated odds of being a sweet-liker were 2.5 times higher for FH+ than for FH− subjects. FH+ subjects disliked the tastes of the two weakest offered sucrose concentrations (0.05 and 0.10 M), whereas FH− subjects reported these tastes to be neutral.
Conclusions: The results of this study support the hypothesis that sweet-liking is associated with a genetic vulnerability to alcoholism.
98 citations
TL;DR: A link between methadone and a desire for calorically dense foods is suggested and a study of eating behavior is warranted.
Abstract: Opiate use has been associated with preference for sweets in both humans and animals. In 2002, the food preferences and eating habits of non-institutionalized patients in methadone treatment and controls were measured and compared. Questionnaires were administered to 14 patients and 14 controls with similar demographic characteristics (there were 19 women and 9 men ranging in age from 19 to 59 years). The patients reported higher consumption of sweets, higher eagerness to consume sweet foods, and a wish to consume quantities larger than that desired by controls. Patients had a significantly higher body mass than controls. The study's limitations are noted. These findings suggest a link between methadone and a desire for calorically dense foods. A study of eating behavior is warranted.
94 citations
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11 Jun 2013
113,134 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the validity of the Tolerance Questionnaire, intended to measure physical dependence to nicotine, was tested in three experiments and significant correlations between physical dependence and degree of acquired increase in tolerance and the temperature withdrawal response were found.
2,156 citations
TL;DR: The inheritance of alcoholism was studied in 862 Swedish men adopted by nonrelatives at an early age and found that both the congenital and postnatal backgrounds of the adoptees modify their risk for alcohol abuse.
Abstract: • The inheritance of alcoholism was studied in 862 Swedish men adopted by nonrelatives at an early age. Both the congenital and postnatal backgrounds of the adoptees modify their risk for alcohol abuse. We distinguish two forms of alcoholism that have distinct genetic and environmental causes and differ in their association with criminality, severity of alcohol abuse, and the frequency of expression in biological mothers. Postnatal milieu determines the frequency and severity of expression of the common type of susceptibility in both men and women. In contrast, the less common type is highly heritable in men but is seldom expressed in mothers of affected men.
1,776 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that the greatest risk factor for the development of antisocial behavior and drug abuse is the maintenance of ADDH symptoms, which followed the onset of conduct disorder in the overwhelming majority of cases.
Abstract: • We report a prospective longitudinal study of 101 male adolescents (ages 16 to 23 years) who had been diagnosed hyperactive in childhood (ages 6 to 12 years), compared with 100 normal controls. The DSM-III diagnoses were made blind to group membership. Information was obtained for 98% of the original cohort. The full attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH) syndrome persisted in 31% of the probands vs in 3% of the controls. The only other two conditions that distinguished the groups significantly were conduct and substance use disorders. These disorders aggregated significantly among the probands with continued ADDH. The results indicate that the greatest risk factor for the development of antisocial behavior and drug abuse is the maintenance of ADDH symptoms. Substance use disorders followed the onset of conduct disorder in the overwhelming majority of the cases.
964 citations
TL;DR: By the last quarter of the 20th century this ancient piece of conventional wisdom had scientific underpinnings and was clearly a weakness, or vice, or both.
Abstract: Alcoholism runs in families. It was alluded to in the Bible, Aristotle and Plutarch remarked about it, and doctors and preachers of the 19th century were unanimous: alcoholism ran in families and was inherited. 2 In those days everything that ran in families was inherited. Perhaps not speaking French or voting Republican, but certainly talents and weaknesses were inherited. Alcoholism was clearly a weakness, or vice, or both. The inheritance was Lamarckian. If the mother took piano lessons, the child might have a musical talent. If the father drank, the sons might be drunkards. By the last quarter of the 20th century this ancient piece of conventional wisdom had scientific underpinnings. Drunkard parents did indeed have drunkard children. They had them about four or five times more often than did parents who were not alcoholic. Someone counted more than 100 studies in the literature
276 citations