Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on January 31, 2007
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2007 42(2):75-79; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl097
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PERCEIVED INTENSITY AND PLEASANTNESS OF SUCROSE TASTE IN MALE ALCOHOLICS
ZATORSKI4
1 Department of Psychiatry, Pomeranian Medical Academy Szczecin
2 Department of Psychiatry Nursing, School of Medicine at Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University Torun
3 Department of Psychiatry II, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology Warsaw, Poland
4 Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology Warsaw, Poland
5 Consultant Otolaryngologist, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology Warsaw
6 Department of Otolaryngology, Warsaw Medical Academy Warsaw
7 Mille Medica Outpatient Clinic Warsaw, Poland
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Otolaryngology, Warsaw Medical Academy, Czerniakowski Hospital, 19/25 Stepinska St., PL-00739 Warsaw, Poland. Tel./fax: +48 22 31 86 266; E-mail: scinska{at}yahoo.com.
Received 19 September 2006; in revised form 20 October 2006; accepted 28 October 2006
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Abstract |
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Aims: The aim of the present study was to evaluate a possible relationship between taste responses to sweet solutions and alcoholic status. Methods: The rated intensity and pleasantness of sucrose taste was compared in male alcoholics (n = 45) and non-alcoholic controls (n = 33). Results: The rated intensity, but not pleasantness, of water taste (0% sucrose) was higher in the alcoholics. The two groups did not differ with respect to the rated intensity or pleasantness of sucrose solutions (1–30%). The proportion of sweet-likers, i.e. subjects rating 30% sucrose as most pleasant, was similar in both groups (the controls: 57.6%, the alcoholics: 62.2%). A subgroup of alcoholics with a paternal history of alcoholism (n = 22) rated the highest sucrose concentration as more pleasant compared to alcoholics without alcoholic fathers. The proportion of sweet-likers among the alcoholics with a paternal history of alcoholism (77.3%) was significantly higher than that found in the alcoholics without a familial history of alcoholism (47.8%). Conclusions: The present results suggest the following: (i) alcohol dependence is not associated with any major alterations in taste responses to sucrose solutions, (ii) sweet liking is a phenotypic marker of male alcoholics with a paternal history of alcoholism.