Hormone triggers alcohol cravings

Apart from the brain, a hormone released by the stomach stimulates alcohol cravings, found a research.

The hormone, ghrelin, is released by the stomach and it stimulates appetite and food intake.

Alcohol is commonly viewed as a psychoactive substance that affects brain functioning but it is also a highly caloric food.

"The findings provide a direct translation of the role of ghrelin in alcohol-seeking behaviours in humans from previous research conducted in rodents," said Lorenzo Leggio.

Leggio is a clinical investigator in the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The study was conducted in the laboratory where 45 men and women, all of whom were alcohol-dependent, heavy-drinking individuals not seeking treatment, were randomised to receive one of three different doses of ghrelin.

One of those doses at 0 mcg/kg served as a placebo.

Following intravenous administration of the drug, the volunteers were exposed to both neutral and alcohol cues and their urge to drink alcohol or juice was repeatedly assessed.

Compared to placebo, ghrelin significantly increased alcohol craving but had no effect on urge to drink juice.

"This sheds new light on a role for ghrelin in alcohol craving, raising the possibility that ghrelin signalling might be targeted by future treatment for alcohol use disorders," concluded John Krystal, editor of the journal Biological Psychiatry that published the study.