Association between preference for sweets and excessive alcohol intake: a review of animal and human studies

This report reviews a series of studies demonstrating a relationship between the consumption of sweets and alcohol consumption. There is consistent evidence linking the consumption of sweets to alcohol intake in both animals and humans, and there are indications that this relationship may be at least partially genetic in nature. Alcohol-preferring rats have a tendency to consume sucrose and saccharin solutions far beyond the limits of their normal fluid intake and this has been proposed to be a model of the clinical phenomenon known as loss of control. Furthermore, rats and mice, genetically bred to prefer alcohol, tend to choose more concentrated sweet solutions, compared to animals which do not prefer alcohol. Similar tendencies to prefer ultra-sweet solutions have been noted in studies of alcoholic subjects, with most alcoholics preferring sweeter sucrose solutions than do controls. Evidence also exists that those alcoholics who prefer sweeter solutions may represent a familial form of alcoholism. Finally, consumption of sweets and/or sweet solutions may significantly suppress alcohol intake in both animals and in alcoholics. Carbohydrate structure and sweet taste may contribute to this effect through different physiological mechanisms involving serotonergic, opioid, and dopaminergic functions. The possibility that there is concordance between sweet liking and alcohol consumption and/or alcoholism has theoretical, biological, and diagnostic/practical implications.