Alcohol may taste sweeter if you were exposed to it before birth, suggests a study in rats. The findings may shed new light 21 why human studies have previously 22 fetal (胎儿的) alcohol exposure to increased alcohol 23 later in life, and to a 24 age at which a person 25 starts drinking alcohol.
Alcohol"s taste is a(n) 26 of sweet and bitter components. To 27 whether prenatal (产前的) alcohol exposure could 28 the perception of these components, Steven Youngentob at the State University of New York in Syracuse and John Glendinning at Columbia University in New York 29 how eagerly rats consumed alcohol, sweet water 30 bitter water.
They found that young rats whose mothers had consumed alcohol during pregnancy 31 alcohol and consumed more of the bitter water than the 32 of mothers that didn"t consume alcohol. Rats that had been exposed to alcohol before birth also seemed to be more 33 to the smell of alcohol.
Prenatal exposure seems to reduce the 34 bitterness of alcohol, making it seem 35 says Youngentob. Both of these differences seemed to 36 once the rats reached adulthood—but 37 if they hadn"t tasted alcohol during their youth. If prenatally exposed rats did consume alcohol in their youth, these preferences seemed to become 38 for life.
"The take-home message is to keep kids away 39 alcohol for as long as possible—particularly 40 they have had prenatal exposure," says Youngentob.