By Michelle Castillo / CBS News/ April 15, 2013, 4:09 PM

Just tasting beer may make you want to drink more

Just tasting cold, refreshing beer -- with no influence from alcohol -- make increase your desire to get drunk.

A new study reveals that the taste of beer leads the brain to release a hormone called dopamine, which controls the reward and pleasure centers of the brain. Dopamine has been linked to drinking and other drug abuse.

"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," David A. Kareken, professor of neurology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the deputy director of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center, said in a press release.

Forty-nine men who were about 25-years-old were scanned with positive electron tomography (PET) when they tasted beer and when they tasted Gatorade. None of the men had significant drug or tobacco use history, and they all said they liked beer over other alcoholic drinks.

Women were not included in the experiment because there weren't many women who said they preferred beer and met the study's other criteria.

Study participants were given 0.5 oz of their preferred beer over 15 minutes. This allowed them to taste the beer, but not increase their blood alcohol level above a detectable amount. They could not get intoxicated off of this amount.

There were significantly increased levels of dopamine on the beer scans compared to the Gatorade scans. Subjects said they craved more beer after tasting beer, while not many said they wanted to drink more Gatorade after drinking the sports drink. This was in spite of the fact that many participants said they preferred the taste of Gatorade.

Read more:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-5757...-to-drink-more/

Alcoholics call this effect "craving" which is set off by the first taste. Alcoholics report their favorite drink is "more."

And alcoholics report when they aren't drinking, they are thinking of drinking. What is different between alcoholics and "normies" is when they reach their fill.

Zitat

---

Just tasting cold, refreshing beer -- with no influence from alcohol -- make increase your desire to get drunk.

---

Good thing I drink scotch. I don't have to deal with these lowbrow issues.

This is news? To WHO?