Exploring the association between sweet liking and treatment response to naltrexone in patients with alcohol use disorder.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Response to naltrexone varies among individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Studies in Western populations have linked the sweet-liking (SL) phenotype, reflecting an individual's hedonic response to sweet taste, to improved outcomes with naltrexone. However, cultural and ethnic variations in SL raise questions about the generalizability of this association. This exploratory investigation examined the relationship between SL phenotype and naltrexone treatment outcomes in Taiwanese patients with AUD.

Methods

Patients with DSM-5-defined severe AUD who had completed alcohol withdrawal were enrolled in an 8-week open-label naltrexone trial. Participants completed a sweet taste test and were categorized into SL or sweet-disliking (SDL) groups. Outcomes included alc

SUBMITTER: Chang MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12931563 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature