The Influence of Simple Carbohydrates on Cravings for Alcohol in Persons Diagnosed with Alcohol Dependence

Despite the treatment available for persons diagnosed with alcohol dependence, 40-60% of treatment recipients return to using alcohol within a year of treatment completion. Cravings for alcohol and mood instability are two factors shown to be important in relapse. Review of the literature indicates that there may be a relationship between simple carbohydrate and alcohol consumption; therefore, the principle research question of this study was: What is the relationship between sugar consumption and alcohol cravings? Understanding this relationship may provide better insight into nutritional factors related to relapse. Participants (N=40) in treatment for alcohol dependence recorded their food and beverage consumption for 5 days using a researcher-developed food consumption log. After meals, participants completed the Alcohol Urge Questionnaire (AUQ) to quantify cravings for alcohol. Findings indicated no significant correlation between AUQ scores and sugar intake. Cluster analysis revealed a group of participants who reported highly variable sugar intake and higher than the average AUQ scores. Spearman correlation tests showed, for this group, that higher variability in sugar intake was associated with more variability in AUQ craving scores (rs=.39), providing further evidence that cravings and sugar intake may be related and that stable amounts of simple carbohydrates in the diet may result in fewer cravings and thus lower relapse. Therefore, this suggests that many in treatment for alcohol dependence may have inconsistent dietary habits that reinforce the need for nutritional education as adjunctive treatment for alcoholism. The implications for social change are that this type of an approach to treatment, if successful, would offer another avenue to help reduce the potential for relapse and thus lower treatments costs associated with alcohol dependence.