A new study, authored by Julie A. Mennella, a developmental psycho-biologist at Philadelphia’s Monell Chemical Senses Center, suggests that strong ‘sweet tooth’ in children is linked to depression as well as a family history of alcoholism.

However, Mennella also specified that the findings of the research do not, in any way, imply that there is an association between a child’s sweet penchant and the risk of alcoholism as an adult.

For the study, the researchers determined the sweetness-inclination level of 300 children, aged between 5 to 12 years. Asking the children to taste five amounts of table sugar (sucrose) in water, the researchers questioned them about the presence of depressive symptoms; and their mothers were asked give information about the alcohol use by the family.

It was found that nearly 25 percent of the children suffered from symptoms of depression; and 49 percent of them had a family history of alcoholism. In addition, it was noticed that a fondness for extreme sweetness was the maximum in the 37 children who had both depressive symptoms as well as a family history of alcoholism.

In addition, these 37 children showed a 24 percent sucrose preference level – which equals about 14 teaspoons of sugar in a cup of water, and over two times the sweetness of typical cola – vis-à-vis the 18 percent sucrose preference of their counterparts.