Almost all children love sweets, as do most adults. But it turns out that kids who are drawn to ultra sweet drinks are more likely to have family history of alcoholism and depressive symptoms, according to a new study. Sweetness is a rewarding taste for all children, but some of them may be especially attracted to intense sugary tastes because of underlying biology.
Don’t panic though. A child who likes super sweet foods won’t necessarily become an alcoholic. It’s just a link between a taste preference and a family history of the disease. ”At this point, we don’t know whether this higher ‘bliss point’ for sweets is a marker for later alcohol use,” lead researcher Julie Mennella, a developmental psychobiologist at Monell Chemical Sense Center in Philadelphia.
A connection between sweets and alcohol would make sense, as both trigger many of the same reward circuits in the brain. And, since sugar can be a mood elevator, depressed children may be drawn to it in an attempt to feel better.
The study had 300 children ages 5 to 12 taste five levels of table sugar in water and choose which they liked best. Participants answered questions about their own depression levels and their mothers provided family histories. Nearly half of the children with a family history of alcoholism, meaning a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt or uncle who had been diagnosed with alcohol dependence. About a quarter of them admitted to depressive symptoms.
The children with family histories of alcohol abuse and those with depressive symptoms were most likely to go for the sweeter end of the spectrum – choosing an average of 24 percent sugar. That’s more than twice the amount of sugar in the typical soda. Other children preferred the 18 percent mixture on average.
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