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Sweet taste liking is associated with subjective response to amphetamine in women but not men

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Abstract

Rationale and objective

Preference for sweet taste rewards has been linked to the propensity for drug use in both animals and humans. Here, we tested the association between sweet taste liking and sensitivity to amphetamine reward in healthy adults. We hypothesized that sweet likers would report greater euphoria and stimulation following d-amphetamine (20 mg) compared to sweet dislikers.

Methods

Men (n = 36) and women (n = 34) completed a sweet taste test in which they rated their liking of various concentrations of sucrose and filtered water (0.05, 0.10, 0.21, 0.42, and 0.83 M). Participants who preferred the highest concentration were classified as “sweet likers.” All others were classified as “sweet dislikers.” They then completed four sessions in which they received d-amphetamine (20 mg) and placebo in alternating order, providing self-report measures of euphoria and stimulation on the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI) at regular intervals. We conducted linear mixed effects models to examine relationships between sweet liking and drug-induced euphoria and stimulation.

Results

Sweet likers reported significantly greater amphetamine-induced euphoria than did sweet dislikers among women. By contrast, sweet liking was not associated with amphetamine response in men. No associations with stimulation were observed.

Conclusion

The association between sweet preference and amphetamine response in women is consistent with animal studies linking sweet taste preference and drug reward and also fits with observations that individuals who use drugs show a preference for sweet tastes. Whether the sex difference is related to circulating hormones, or other variables, remains to be determined.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Grants R21 DA037642 (HdW), R01 DA002812 (HdW, KLP), and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant K01 AA024519 (JW).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, MC3077, 5841 S. Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Jessica Weafer, Nicholas Lyon & Harriet de Wit

  2. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, MC2000, 5841 S. Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Donald Hedeker

Authors
  1. Jessica Weafer
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  2. Nicholas Lyon
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  3. Donald Hedeker
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  4. Harriet de Wit
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica Weafer.

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The Institutional Review Board of the University of Chicago approved the study, and it was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary Figure 1

Scatterplots showing associations between liking ratings of the highest sweetness concentration and area under the curve difference scores (amphetamine minus placebo) for euphoria (MBG) and stimulation (A). Significant correlations were observed in women (panels A and C), but not in men (panels B and D) (GIF 42 kb)

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Weafer, J., Lyon, N., Hedeker, D. et al. Sweet taste liking is associated with subjective response to amphetamine in women but not men. Psychopharmacology 234, 3185–3194 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4702-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4702-x

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