Study: Sweet Tooth Plus Novelty-Seeking May Predict Alcoholism

New research finds a link between alcohol addiction and people who like sweets and are novelty seekers, according to research from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Previous studies have shown a link between a soft spot for sweets and a genetic vulnerability to alcoholism among children of alcoholic fathers. But the latest study by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine found that having a sweet tooth alone doesn't predict alcoholism.

"The results of this study confirmed our previous hypothesis that sweet-liking is associated with genetic risk of alcoholism as measured by the paternal history of alcoholism," said study author Alexei Kampov-Polevoy, assistant professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "Then we tested the hypothesis that sweet-liking can predict alcoholic status of an individual. Analysis showed that sweet-liking by itself was not sufficient to predict alcoholic status of an individual. Sweet-likers were found among both alcoholics and non-alcoholic patients. Only a combination of sweet-liking and elevated novelty-seeking ... was sufficient to make such a prediction."

The research focused on novelty-seeking because Kampov-Polevoy said previous studies have "strongly implicated the presence of various elements of behavioral undercontrol."

"Novelty-seeking has been frequently found to be higher in alcoholics, compared with nonalcoholic control subjects, as well as in patients with a familial form of alcoholism, compared with patients with nonfamilial forms of alcoholism," said Kampov-Polevoy. "It is believed that high novelty-seeking causes early experimentation with alcohol and, as a result, higher lifetime rates of heavy drinking, alcohol abuse, and dependence."

The study involved 165 middle-aged patients who were admitted to a residential treatment program for alcohol and other drug dependence, and/or had interpersonal problems related to family members who used drugs. Participants were given the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire, a standard sweet-taste test, and an evaluation for paternal family history of alcoholism.

"The main finding of this study is that two independent and presumably heritable traits, such as sweet-liking and high novelty-seeking, separately were insufficient to predict alcoholism in our sample," said Kampov-Polevoy. "However, if a person had both of these traits, he or she most likely was an alcoholic."

If additional research confirms the study's findings, Kampov-Polevoy said, simple tests could be created to assist clinicians in assessing the risk of developing alcoholism in an individual early in their lifetime.

The study's findings are published in the September 2004 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.