Study Finds That Buzz Trumps Taste For Beer And Coffee Consumers

American Craft Beer has long contended that the primary reason that people drink beer is for mood-enhancement…And now a Northwestern University study has come around to our position.

Here’s the deal…

Researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg’s School of Medicine in Chicago found that the taste preferences for bitter or sweet beverages aren’t based on variations in taste genes, but rather in genes that are involved with emotional responses according to NBC News.

That’s right…people drink beer for buzz first and taste, maybe second or third, and those same finding apply to coffee and its pick-me-up qualities.

The results of the study, which were published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, strike us as confirming the obvious, people drink beer and coffee primarily for their psychoactive qualities as does the cannabis consumer.

Yes the buzzes are different, but the primary desired effect for coffee and beer drinkers is to “feel different” according to researchers at Northwestern University.

And according to Marilyn Cornelis the Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine it’s about how these drink make you feel…

“The genetics underlying our preferences are related to the psychoactive components of these drinks,” People like the way coffee and alcohol make them feel. That’s why they drink it. It’s not the taste.”

Researchers divided the study into two significant categories, a bitter-tasting group and a sweet-tasting group. Bitter included coffee, tea, grapefruit juice, beer, red wine and liquor. While the sweet segment (and its associated sugar rush) included sugar-sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages and non-grapefruit juices.

Questionnaires were then provide to about 336,000 individuals recruited from the U.K. Biobank – a pool of research participants who contribute to studies on the long-term effects of genetics and the environment on the development of disease -asking them to report what they ate and drank over the past 24 hours.

This was the first genome-wide study to provide proof that something other than taste genes may be playing a role in our preference for beverages. And it highlights important behavior-reward components to beverage choice and adds to our understanding of the link between genetics and beverage consumption, Cornelis said in a statement.

 “Understanding environmental and genetic factors contributing to beverage choice and consumption level has important nutritional and broader public health implications.”