There are many popular drinks that people love. Bitter or sweet, there is something for every taste. Cravings for a coffee or a beer are something millions of people experience every day. Understanding the underlying reasons why we crave another cup or glass of our preferred beverage with the most consistent regularity is important not only for brands but also for those seeking to control their diet.
Let’s find out the reason why we love coffee and beer
In an attempt to explain taste variations between people, Marilyn Cornelis, assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, conducted a study focused on genes regulating human tastes in food and drinks.
The idea was to find a way to facilitate a correction of a person’s preferences.
For the team of scientists, however, it was a surprise to discover that our preferences for sweet or bitter drinks are dictated by psychoactive factors rather than by the taste properties these drinks possess. The report has been published in Human Molecular Genetics.
According to Cornelis, the leading researcher, psychoactive ingredients contained by many beverages are the true factors that control our addictions.
Actually, people just like the feeling that alcohol or coffee can give them. It is in pursuit of this feeling rather than the taste itself that people consume beverages.
Just love the feeling… But what about consequences?
According to Cornelis, the study helps us better understand why we tend to use certain beverages more often than others.
Also, it shows what potential barriers people who seek correction of their diet may encounter on this way. It’s been proven: What you drink is an essential part of your diet.
For example, sweet beverages are rich In sugar and can therefore aggravate certain health conditions like diabetes.
Similarly, alcohol drinks are known to be related to many diseases and scientists confirmed recently that there are no safe doses of alcohol. Besides, women from the former Soviet Union seeking partner abroad absolutely abhor a man loving a drink. They have enough of these types at home, so they really value a guy who doesn’t need alcohol to be in high spirits.
It’s been proven: What you drink is an essential part of your diet.
The experiment
For the purpose of the research, beverages were divided into 2 major groups: bitter tasting drinks and sweet tasting ones.
- The first group included tea, coffee, beer, grapefruit juice, liquor, and red wine.
- The sweet group included a number of juices as well as beverages that included artificial sweeteners.
The data on beverage consumption by study participants was collected by means of a questionnaire.
About 336,000 people supplied their data to the project.
The number of servings consumed by a person in a period of time was determined for each beverage group. Then a genome wide association study of respective consumption values was conducted.
The last step was an attempt to replicate the major findings in three cohorts of people in the USA.
The gene made me do it
The study has revealed the role of FTO, a gene variant. People with this type of gene variant tend to prefer sweet beverages.
As Cornelis explains, possessing FTO can be considered a factor linked to excessive body weight, while the exact correlation remains to be further investigated. Presumably, the mechanism is based on an individual’s weight control behavior affected by beverages ingested.
Victor Zhong, preventive medicine postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern and a co-author of the study, pointed out that this research has been the most comprehensive work focused on genome-associated consumption of beverage to dates.
Read also:
- ‘Beer goggles’ exist: Drunk men look at women differently
- How much Russians drink
- Research: Consuming over 5 drinks a week will shorten your life
- Why alcohol makes you hungry
It’s very important that scientists make such important researches. When you understand your behavior habits, you can control them more consciously.
Well, now I understand why am I so obsessed with coffee. If I had to chose between some delicious food and coffee, I would definitely take the second variant.
But the fact that our taste preferences can be caused by the structure of our genes is incredible! Maybe that’s why it is so difficult to change my food habits sometimes.
That’s something new. Feel like I need to learn more about FTO and the whole study. Understanding our deepest motives and biological reasons will never get boring. Knowledge makes our life better thanks to scientists and all concerned people.
Interesting… and I really don’t believe, that coffee can make me feel more vigorous or something else, may be that is why I don’t enjoy the taste of it. Or perhaps the reason of it is that I don’t drink it every day. And I don’t like beer by the way.