Didn't like coffee and now can't live without it? This is the scientific reason

A new study from the University of California, San Francisco, published in Nature, reveals a slow dopamine pathway connecting the gut to the brain, explaining how we learn to like bitter tastes like coffee. In experiments on mice and human brain scans, nutrients were found to trigger dopamine release in the amygdala, teaching the brain to associate taste with a feeling of arousal.

A new study from the University of California, San Francisco, published in the journal Nature, reveals a brain mechanism that explains how people learn to like bitter tastes like coffee, despite the initial natural aversion. The researchers identified a "slow" dopamine pathway connecting the digestive system to the brain, linking taste to the good feeling after consumption. In an experiment on mice, nutrients delivered directly to the stomach caused dopamine release in the amygdala region, teaching the mice to prefer a new taste. Blocking this pathway prevented this learning, while artificial stimulation created a preference even without nutritional value. Brain scans in humans showed a similar increase in dopamine activity, mainly on the left side of the brain. The researchers believe that understanding this mechanism may help develop future treatments to change food preferences and address eating habits.