Beer Taste stimulates happiness hormones

Taste of beer, according to a study promotes happiness hormone release

04/17/2013

Drinking beer will be the so-called „happiness hormone“ Dopamine released - this has now been discovered by neurologists at the University of Indiana in a study on the emergence of addiction and in the journal „Neuropsychopharmacology“ released. Thereafter, the results of the investigation would have shown, „that even the taste of alcohol can trigger the release of dopamine and that the reaction is strongest in cases with a higher genetic risk for alcoholism“, according to the scientists in the journal. The good news: "Even non-alcoholic beer can have the same effect," the researchers report. So you do not have to become an alcoholic to be "happy".

Effect in men from alcoholic families strongest
The researchers had loud the subject article „49 men ranging from social drinkers to very strong consumers, average age 25, with different family histories of alcoholism“ examined. The subjects were given the task of either beer of their favorite variety or the alcohol-free sports drink „Gatorade“ Among other things, the scientists observed the effects of consumption on the dopamine activity in the subjects' brains. The result: even the pure taste of the barley juice led to an activation of the happy hormones - therefore also non-alcoholic beer could in principle develop the same effect. With the men „with first-degree alcoholics“ On the other hand, the effect was much less pronounced - even though these subjects clearly preferred the taste of the sports drink in comparison to that of the beer.

Scientists are entering uncharted territory with the study
According to the head of the study, the neurologist David Kareken, this investigation broke new ground: „We believe that this is the first human experiment that shows that even the taste of beer, even without the intoxicating effect of alcohol, can trigger this dopamine activity“, said the researcher. (No)

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Image: Jakob Ehrhardt