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Study: Taste of beer causes chemical reward in male brain

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

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Just the taste of beer alone can cause a release of the chemical dopamine.
Image: Steve Pereira.

In a study published yesterday online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, scientists from the Indiana University School of Medicine say the taste of beer alone triggers a release of dopamine, the brain's chemical reward signal.

Dopamine is a chemical released by the human body and is associated with drug- and alcohol-related use and pleasure. In men with family histories of alcoholism, the dopamine release was greater.

The scientists sprayed 15 milliliters (about one tablespoon) of either beer or a sports drink into the mouths of the participants over a period of 15 minutes, scanning their brains and noting increases in dopamine levels were present. According to the scientists, 15 mL of beer does not contain enough alcohol for the alcohol to cause intoxication or any noticeable increase in blood-alcohol levels.

Brain scans were accomplished with positron emission tomography, an imaging technology using radiation to obtain three-dimensional images of, in this case, the human brain.

The senior author of the study, Dr. David A. Kareken, said "We believe this is the first experiment in humans to show that the taste of an alcoholic drink alone, without any intoxicating effect from the alcohol, can elicit this dopamine activity in the brain's reward centers".

Professor of substance use, policy and practice Peter Anderson at Newcastle University in the UK said many "sorts of cues" can cause an urge to drink. "This paper demonstrates that taste alone impacts on the brain functions associated with desire. This is not surprising — if taste increases desire, it has to impact on brain functions."


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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

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