Beer and wine lovers would not really like their taste, but rather drunkenness

Researchers in genetics say in essence that lovers of beer or wine veil the face saying drink for the finesse of taste. In reality, it is the psychoactive effect of alcohol on the brain that attracts them. Ditto for coffee: Humans have learned to overcome bitterness for the "mental reward" provided by caffeine.

Geneticists at Northwestern University, in a study published Thursday in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, sought to identify the genes governing our drink preferences. Initially, they naturally turned to the genes of taste, says Marilyn Cornelis, coauthor of the study. But to their surprise, they discovered that people's preferences varied according to other genes related to psychoactive effects drinks.

"People like the way coffee and alcohol make them feel, that's why they drink it"

Help fight against harmful eating habits?

For the study, scientists divided the drinks consumed into two groups: bitter (coffee, tea, grapefruit juice, red wine, strong alcohol) and sweet (sweet drinks and sodas, fruit juice). And they looked at the genetic profiles of 336,000 people of European origin.

They then looked for badociations between the participants' genomes and their beverage consumption. "Taste may be a factor", says Marilyn Cornelis," but it's an acquired taste ".

"The bitterness of coffee would normally lead us to avoid it, from an evolution point of view, but we consume it because we have learned to confuse taste with the caffeine effect"

What is the point of locating the attraction mechanisms for coffee and alcohol? "If we want to intervene against certain eating behaviors that may be harmful, we must take into account the psychoactive effects," sums up Marilyn Cornelis.

All the mystery of human preferences, however, is not lifted, far from it. For example, a mutation in a gene called FTO is both linked to a preference for sugary drinks … and a reduced risk of obesity, which may seem contradictory.