Research reportModerate alcohol consumption stimulates food intake and food reward of savoury foods☆
Introduction
Consistent evidence shows that alcohol stimulates short-term food intake when it is consumed before or with the meal (Westerterp-Plantenga, Verwegen, 1999, Yeomans, 2004, Yeomans, 2010a). This effect may relate to reduced satiety signalling after alcohol consumption. However, there is only limited evidence in humans to support such a hypothesis (Raben et al, 2003, Röjdmark et al, 2001). Another potential mechanism through which alcohol may stimulate food intake is by increasing the rewarding value of food via its effects on reward systems. Food reward comprises two components: ‘liking’ and ‘wanting’, which can be divided both psychologically and neurologically (Berridge, 2009). Psychologically, liking refers to the pleasantness of food and the pleasure derived from tasting the food, and wanting to the intrinsic motivation to eat. Neurologically, liking has been shown to be influenced by opioid, endocannabinoid and GABA neurotransmission, whereas wanting appears to mainly depend on dopaminergic neurotransmission (Berridge, 1996, Berridge, 2009, Cooper, 2005). Alcohol may stimulate both liking and wanting as it has been shown to enhance opioid release, and stimulate GABA and dopaminergic neurotransmission (Kumar et al, 2009, Melis et al, 2009, Oswald, Wand, 2004). However, previous studies observing an increased food intake showed no influence of alcohol on the pleasantness nor on pleasure of eating either a savoury or a mixed (savoury and sweet) meal (Caton et al, 2005, Yeomans et al, 1999). The effect of alcohol on food wanting has not been measured previously.
Oral nutrient sensing plays an important role in food reward. Orosensory stimulation by food may induce a cephalic phase response but it may also increase the hedonic and rewarding value of food (Berthoud, 2008, Morton et al, 2006). Gut nutrient sensing may also increase the rewarding value of food, although evidence is less strong as compared to oral nutrient sensing (Sclafani, Ackroff, 2012, Spetter et al, 2014). Recently, the effects of oral and gut sensory stimulation on brain reward systems were compared in a study performed in pigs, showing that oral and gut stimulation influenced diverse reward regions (Clouard, Meunier-Salaün, Meurice, Malbert, & Val-Laillet, 2014).
To our best knowledge, no studies have been conducted on the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on the satiety or reward response of orally sensed food. A method to study orosensory stimulation is the modified sham feeding (MSF) technique, in which food is smelled, chewed and tasted, but not swallowed (Joosten et al, 2010, Teff, Engelman, 1996, Wijlens et al, 2012). By the use of MSF after alcohol consumption the role of orosensory stimulation in alcohol's effect on food intake and food reward can be investigated. Typically, the rewarding value of food decreases with food intake, ultimately causing the person to stop eating. Therefore, we predicted that orosensory stimulation only and oral plus gut sensory stimulation would reduce food intake of the next meal, since both conditions will initiate a reward response. The role of oral and gut stimulation could be explored by comparing food intake after alcohol consumption in combination with cake MSF and in combination with cake consumption.
Rewarding food is often highly palatable food, such as sweet and high-fat food, although savoury food, such as pizza, may also be rewarding (Egecioglu et al, 2011, Tetley et al, 2010). Finlayson, Bordes, Griffioen-Roose, de Graaf, and Blundell (2012) studied the effect of equi-palatable savoury and sweet drinks on food reward and observed no difference in liking and wanting between the drinks. However, exposure to savoury taste has a stronger modulating effect on subsequent food preferences as compared with exposure to sweet taste (Griffioen-Roose, Finlayson, Mars, Blundell, & de Graaf, 2010). In addition, sweet and savoury intake may activate different reward-related brain systems (Spetter, de Graaf, Viergever, & Smeets, 2012). Therefore, we hypothesized that alcohol could differentially influence the rewarding value of specific food categories based on taste or fat content. Previous studies, however, do not show a difference in taste preference after alcohol intake. Studies showing an increased food intake after alcohol consumption mainly used mixed meals and observed no difference in food preferences (Caton et al, 2004, Caton et al, 2005), though Caton et al. (2004) showed an elevated intake of high-fat savoury food (crisps) after 4 glasses of alcohol.
The primary aim of this study was to investigate if moderate alcohol consumption stimulates subsequent food intake via an increased food reward. Food reward was evaluated by explicit ratings of wanting and liking and an implicit measure of wanting. Second, we investigated the role of oral and gut sensory stimulation in alcohol's effect on food reward. This was evaluated by comparing food reward after only alcohol consumption with food reward after alcohol consumption followed by oral stimulation or followed by both oral and gut stimulation (normal consumption). We hypothesized that alcohol increases food intake via an increased food reward (both explicit and implicit measures of wanting and liking) of high-fat and sweet foods and that alcohol mediates food reward mainly via orosensory pathways. Both oral stimulation and oral plus gut stimulation were predicted to induce a reward response and thereby decrease food intake of the next meal. The combined oral and gut stimulation was expected to have a larger effect.
Section snippets
Participants
Healthy men (n = 24, age 25–50 y, BMI 20–25 kg/m2) participated in the study. The participants were recruited from a pool of volunteers at CHDR (Centre for Human Drug Research) in Leiden, The Netherlands, and by advertising in newspapers. Eligible participants did not use any medication, habitually consumed alcohol (5–20 glasses/week, equal to ±50–200 g alcohol/week (Kalant & Poikolainen, 1999)) and had no (family) history of alcoholism. Additionally, participants had to like all the food
Participants
Participants had an average age of 32 ± 0.8 y (median 27.5, range 25–50) and a BMI of 23 ± 0.1 kg/m2. Their fat percentage, measured by bio-impedance (InBody 720, Biospace Inc, Cerritos, CA, USA), was 14 ± 0.4% and their DEBQ restrained score was 1.63 ± 0.03. The average alcohol consumption was 11 ± 0.3 (range 6–20) glasses per week. Highest mean BAC was measured at 10 min after alcohol ingestion and was on average 0.52‰ w/v.
One participant dropped out for study unrelated reasons; data of this
Discussion
The role of food reward in the stimulatory effect of moderate alcohol consumption on subsequent food intake was studied. We showed that alcohol increased subsequent food intake, especially of high-fat savoury food, which concurred with an increased food reward for savoury foods. We also explored if moderate alcohol consumption increases food reward via oral or gut sensory pathways, by the use of cake MSF or cake consumption. However, this study showed no modulation of alcohol's influence on
References (38)
Food reward. Brain substrates of wanting and liking
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
(1996)Liking’ and ‘wanting’ food rewards. Brain substrates and roles in eating disorders
Physiology & Behavior
(2009)- et al.
Dose-dependent effects of alcohol on appetite and food intake
Physiology & Behavior
(2004) - et al.
Acute effects of an alcoholic drink on food intake. Aperitif versus co-ingestion
Physiology & Behavior
(2007) - et al.
Pleasure and alcohol. Manipulating pleasantness and the acute effects of alcohol on food intake
Physiology & Behavior
(2005) Palatability-dependent appetite and benzodiazepines. New directions from the pharmacology of GABAA receptor subtypes
Appetite
(2005)- et al.
Susceptibility to overeating affects the impact of savory or sweet drinks on satiation, reward, and food intake in nonobese women
The Journal of Nutrition
(2012) - et al.
Is it possible to dissociate ‘liking’ and ‘wanting’ for foods in humans? A novel experimental procedure
Physiology & Behavior
(2007) - et al.
The role of implicit wanting in relation to explicit liking and wanting for food. Implications for appetite control
Appetite
(2008) - et al.
Measuring food reward and the transfer effect of sensory specific satiety
Appetite
(2010)
Short-term oral exposure to white wine transiently lowers serum free fatty acids
Appetite
Ethanol and acetaldehyde action on central dopamine systems. Mechanisms, modulation, and relationship to stress
Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.)
The effects of sham feeding-induced sensory specific satiation and food variety on subsequent food intake in humans
Appetite
Opioids and alcoholism
Physiology & Behavior
Meals with similar energy densities but rich in protein, fat, carbohydrate, or alcohol have different effects on energy expenditure and substrate metabolism but not on appetite and energy intake
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Oral exposure and sensory-specific satiety
Physiology & Behavior
Anterior cingulate taste activation predicts ad libitum intake of sweet and savory drinks in healthy, normal-weight men
The Journal of Nutrition
The role of sensitivity to reward and impulsivity in food-cue reactivity
Eating Behaviors
The appetizing effect of an aperitif in overweight and normal-weight humans
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Cited by (30)
Guanylate cyclases link serotoninergic signaling to modulate ethanol-induced food intake in C. elegans
2021, Biochemical and Biophysical Research CommunicationsThe effect of acute alcohol consumption on meal memory and subsequent food intake: Two laboratory experiments
2021, AppetiteCitation Excerpt :Acute alcohol consumption has also been shown to increase short-term levels of food intake, relative to consumption of alcohol-free drinks (Caton, Ball, Ahern, & Hetherington, 2004; Caton, Marks, & Hetherington, 2005; Kwok, Dordevic, Paton, Page, & Truby, 2019; Yeomans, 2010). Several mechanisms are likely to contribute to alcohol's effect on increased intake, such as impairment of inhibitory control (Christiansen, Rose, Randall-Smith, & Hardman, 2016) and enhancing the reward value of certain foods (Schrieks et al., 2015). Furthermore, biological factors are also likely to contribute towards elevated levels of food intake, as acute alcohol consumption produces hyperactivity of agouti-related protein neurons (Cains, Blomeley, Kollo, Rácz, & Burdakov, 2017) and produces inhibition of leptin and GLP-1 hormones (Raben, Agerholm-Larsen, Flint, Holst, & Astrup, 2003; Röjdmark, Calissendorff, & Brismar, 2001).
The effect of alcohol on food-related attentional bias, food reward and intake: Two experimental studies
2021, AppetiteCitation Excerpt :In humans, food reward (defined as the momentary value of food; Rogers & Hardman, 2015) can be measured using explicit measures, such as self-report scales which measure appetite, liking of food and desire to consume food (Rogers & Hardman, 2015; Ruddock, Field, & Hardman, 2017), but can also be measured using tasks which capture implicit biases to food cues, such as measures of attentional bias. In the case of self-report measures, indices of food reward (i.e., appetite and snack urge ratings) have been shown to increase after alcohol consumption (Caton, Bale, & Hetherington, 2007; Rose, Hardman, & Christiansen, 2015; Schrieks et al., 2015). Attentional bias (defined as the ability for certain stimuli to capture one's attention; Field et al., 2016) has been implicated as an index of food reward, because attentional biases are thought to indicate underlying appetitive motivational processes.
Intensive nutrition counseling as part of a multi-component weight loss intervention improves diet quality and anthropometrics in older adults with obesity
2020, Clinical Nutrition ESPENCitation Excerpt :Individuals who consume more alcohol generally consume less variety from other foods [64], which may indicate poorer diet quality and diversity. In moderate alcohol drinkers, calorie and nutrient intake from food differ on drinking and nondrinking days [66], with an increase in total calories, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium observed on drinking days [67]. A significant decrease in alcohol intake at follow-up indicates that reducing alcohol may improve chances of weight loss and could be another focus of nutrition counseling in this population.
Voluntary alcohol consumption exacerbated high fat diet-induced cognitive deficits by NF-κB-calpain dependent apoptotic cell death in rat hippocampus: Ameliorative effect of melatonin
2018, Biomedicine and PharmacotherapyCitation Excerpt :The ALC and fatty foods together result in an additive effect of positive energy as well as fat balance lead to adiposity [1,12]. Previous findings reported that ALC and HFD induce intake of each other that aggravates obese condition in human subjects and hepatic cell death in the rodents [13,14]. In addition, chronic alcoholism and HFD consumption cause cognitive deficits and neuronal loss through raised oxidative stress, impairment of insulin signaling and neurogenesis [15–18].
Measuring wanting and liking from animals to humans: A systematic review
2016, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
- ☆
Acknowledgements: We gratefully acknowledge the Centre for Human Drug Research for the successful collaboration on the conduct of the study, specifically P. A. M. Peeters, and J. M. A. van Gerven. We thank the volunteers for their enthusiastic participation. We also thank E. D. Schoen, C. M. de Jong-Rubingh and S. Bijlsma from TNO for their statistical advice. Funding: This work was supported both by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and by the Dutch Foundation for Alcohol Research (SAR) representing Dutch producers of and traders in beer, wine and spirits and TNO (Grant EZ1503). Their joint aim is to independently study the health effects of moderate alcohol consumption. The funding sources had no role in the study design, in conducting, analysing, or interpreting the data or in the decision to submit the article for publication.