Johansen Alexandra N, Acuff Samuel F, Strickland Justin C
Department of Psychology, Davidson College.
Recovery Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University.
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2025 Jun;33(3):269-274. doi: 10.1037/pha0000756. Epub 2024 Dec 2.
Alcohol use disorder is prevalent, and various risk factors inform drinking onset and drinking patterns. Existing data suggest that alcohol sweet taste preference may be associated with harmful levels of alcohol use and alcohol-related harm. The present exploratory study aimed to characterize people's first alcohol use experience, probe the association between sweet taste preferences and drinking patterns over time, and evaluate the relationship between sweet taste preferences and behavioral economic variables. Participants ( = 277) were recruited through Prolific and completed an assessment of first alcohol exposure, current and historic drinking patterns, alcohol demand, and delay discounting. Participants reporting preference for less sweet alcohol beverages consumed the most drinks per week both currently and during their period of the heaviest use. Trends emerged such that rank order decreases in alcohol consumption were observed from those reporting transitioning from sweet to less sweet preference, then less sweet to sweet preference, and finally consistent sweet taste preference reporting the lowest consumption. Similar associations were observed for alcohol use disorder symptoms counts and alcohol demand intensity. These data broadly suggest that sweet taste preferences in alcohol consumption may serve as an important factor modulating patterns of alcohol use across the lifespan. In terms of translational implications, these data suggest that commonly used sucrose fades in preclinical research may reflect the trend in taste preferences of the majority of the population but do not mirror the typical onset (or course) of chronic, maladaptive drinking behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
酒精使用障碍很普遍，多种风险因素影响饮酒的开始和饮酒模式。现有数据表明，对酒精甜味的偏好可能与有害水平的酒精使用及与酒精相关的危害有关。本探索性研究旨在描述人们首次饮酒的经历，探究甜味偏好与饮酒模式随时间的关联，并评估甜味偏好与行为经济学变量之间的关系。通过Prolific招募了参与者（n = 277），他们完成了对首次酒精接触、当前和既往饮酒模式、酒精需求及延迟折扣的评估。报告偏好甜度较低酒精饮料的参与者，目前以及在饮酒量最大的时期每周饮酒量最多。出现了这样的趋势，即从报告从偏好甜味转变为偏好甜度较低的人，到偏好甜度较低转变为偏好甜味的人，再到一直偏好甜味的人，饮酒量依次递减，而一直偏好甜味的人饮酒量最低。在酒精使用障碍症状计数和酒精需求强度方面也观察到了类似的关联。这些数据广泛表明，酒精消费中的甜味偏好可能是调节一生中酒精使用模式的一个重要因素。在转化意义方面，这些数据表明，临床前研究中常用的蔗糖消退可能反映了大多数人群的口味偏好趋势，但并不能反映慢性适应不良饮酒行为的典型发病（或病程）。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
