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Beer's taste triggers dopamine release in brain
DNA ^ | Tuesday, Apri 16, 2013 | ANI

Posted on 04/20/2013 5:34:09 PM PDT by Jyotishi

The taste of beer, without any effect from alcohol itself, can trigger dopamine release in the brain that is associated with drinking and other drugs of abuse, researchers have claimed.

Using positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine tested 49 men with two scans, one in which they tasted beer, and the second in which they tasted Gatorade.

The researchers were looking for evidence of increased levels of dopamine, a brain neurotransmitter that has long been associated with alcohol and other drugs of abuse.

The scans showed significantly more dopamine activity following the taste of beer than the sports drink, moreover, the effect was significantly greater among participants with a family history of alcoholism.

“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, Ph.D., professor of neurology at the IU School of Medicine and the deputy director of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center, said.

Kareken said that the stronger effect in participants with close alcoholic relatives suggests that the dopamine release in response to such alcohol-related cues may be an inherited risk factor for alcoholism.

The participants got a very small amount of their preferred beer - 15 milliliters - over a 15-minute time period, enabling them to taste the beer without having any detectable blood alcohol level or intoxicating effect.

Using a PET scanning compound that targets dopamine receptors in the brain, the scientists were able to assess changes in dopamine levels occurring after the participants tasted the liquids.

Results have been published online Monday by the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agriculture; alcohol; animalhusbandry; beer; brain; godsgravesglyphs; health; neurology; pharmacology; zymurgy
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To: Jyotishi

Thanks for reminding me, is is now 3:04, so time for a beer............


21 posted on 04/20/2013 6:04:53 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: ClearCase_guy

Hilarious. Nice!


22 posted on 04/20/2013 6:09:54 PM PDT by gettinolder (Pursue the enemy relentlessly to the limit of every man's endurance.)
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To: doorgunner69

Made me into a dope, that’s for sure.


23 posted on 04/20/2013 6:10:54 PM PDT by Fido969
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To: Jyotishi

Oh pul-ease. Simple Pavlovian response to the taste by seasoned beer drinkers.

Try the same test with someone who has never tasted beer, and you won’t get the same brain response.


24 posted on 04/20/2013 6:15:19 PM PDT by Yo-Yo
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To: KevinDavis

A Guiness a day keeps the doctor away, ten Guiness a day keep everybody away.


25 posted on 04/20/2013 6:19:48 PM PDT by 05 Mustang GT Rocks
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To: Jyotishi

And all these years I thought I was drinking beer for it’s nutritional value.


26 posted on 04/20/2013 6:24:22 PM PDT by GreatRoad (O < 0)
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To: Obadiah

Actually, I have conducted personal experiments and must say that some of the German non-alcoholic beers elicit a very strong dopamine response from my brain, and I don’t anticipate any alcohol effect.
OTOH, I don’t always drink beer but when I do, I prefer Guinness.


27 posted on 04/20/2013 6:24:46 PM PDT by 05 Mustang GT Rocks
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To: 05 Mustang GT Rocks

Read Guinness, sorry, long day, no beer.


28 posted on 04/20/2013 6:25:30 PM PDT by 05 Mustang GT Rocks
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To: 05 Mustang GT Rocks

Stay thirsty, my friend.


29 posted on 04/20/2013 6:34:18 PM PDT by Obadiah (High speed, low drag.)
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To: Jyotishi

After all, who hasn’t smelled beer and wished for heroine, or glue, or maybe some paint to sniff. Really!

I picked a hell of a week to stop smoking.


30 posted on 04/20/2013 6:39:12 PM PDT by glock rocks (No, the game never ends, when your whole world depends, on the turn of a friendy card.)
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To: Jyotishi

31 posted on 04/20/2013 6:41:20 PM PDT by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: KevinDavis
Is there anything that Beer can’t do???

Try as I may, beer can't make my liberal friends intelligent, or understand basic common sense.

32 posted on 04/20/2013 6:48:55 PM PDT by Stealth Ninja
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To: Jyotishi

I have to admit when I was stationed in Munich back in the 60’s I would find myself lying in the street outside of the Hofbrauhaus. I still don’t know whether I was on my way out or merely overcome on my way in.


33 posted on 04/20/2013 6:51:21 PM PDT by Starstruck (Don't rest. We came close to the 2nd Amendment being field tested.)
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To: glock rocks

> After all, who hasn’t smelled beer and wished for heroine, or glue, or maybe some paint to sniff. Really!

Wouldn’t it be cheaper and of course legal to just shoot beer into the veins? Besides, heroin gets no respect in emergency rooms around the world.


34 posted on 04/20/2013 6:56:14 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: Starstruck

> I have to admit when I was stationed in Munich back in the 60’s I would find myself lying in
> the street outside of the Hofbrauhaus. I still don’t know whether I was on my way out or merely overcome on my way in.

Great inspiration for a song there, country western.


35 posted on 04/20/2013 6:59:01 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: Jyotishi

Wait ... there’s two cases of Heiniken in the fridge on the deck. Oh, and a huge can o Mauna Loa macadamias... who needs Corona and lime when you have Heini’s and macs?


36 posted on 04/20/2013 7:16:31 PM PDT by glock rocks (No, the game never ends, when your whole world depends, on the turn of a friendy card.)
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To: Jyotishi

Jeez! It takes research to figure that one out?!


37 posted on 04/20/2013 8:15:04 PM PDT by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
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To: Sherman Logan

Correct. Classical conditioning (not operant). Would have been a huge surprise if this DIDN’T happen in conditioned drinkers. No reason whatsoever to do this study unless subjects who had never drank alcohol were included.


38 posted on 04/20/2013 8:19:15 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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To: All

39 posted on 04/20/2013 8:25:40 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Third Parties are for losers.)
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To: Jyotishi

Beer always did release the dope-in-me.


40 posted on 04/20/2013 9:22:17 PM PDT by count-your-change (you don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough)
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