Dave’s Diary: The Taste of Beer Shown to be Addictive

The good people at Indiana University have concluded that the taste of beer is addicting.  Really?  Where is my honorary Ph.D. because my own years of research confirms that fact!  In fact, the taste of beer is addicting - whether it contains alcohol or not - and the taste makes us want to drink more.To find this, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine scanned the brains of volunteers as they tasted beer, and again as they tasted Gatorade. So Sherlock, what do you think they found?  They found that when participants drank beer their brain scan showed significantly more dopamine activity compared to when they drank the Gatorade. Dopamine is a feel-good chemical the brain releases in its reward centers.  

They also discovered the effect was greater among participants who had a family history of alcoholism.