This is the reason why you are craving for sweets!

Washington DC: Do you crave for sweets? Well, a Danish study suggests that people are craving for chocolate or cake because of a hormone produced by the liver.

Scientists have previously shown that hormone growth factor 21 (FGF21) reduces sweets consumption in rodents and primates.

It' is believed that FGF21 has the same affect on humans and may just determine who has a sweet tooth and who doesn't.

A study by University of Copenhagen has found that people with two particular genetic variants of the FGF21 hormone were about 20% more likely to be big consumers of sweets compared to those without the genetic variants.

Lead researcher Mathew Gillum said, "The data, mined from a study of the lifestyles and metabolic health of 6500 Danish individuals, is a really surprising insight into the potential hormonal basis of the sweet tooth."

Researchers sequenced the FGF21 gene in the study participants and found that individuals with two specific FGF21 variants, rs838133 and rs838145, were much more likely to consume larger amounts of sweets and lollies.

Gillum said, "These variants are very solidly associated with sweet intake". The professor of metabolic genetics says their findings also raise new ideas about the role of the liver in controlling what we eat.

Once food has passed through the stomach and intestine, the next organ nutrients encounter is the liver.

The researchers speculate that the liver could also secrete other hormones that guide food choices more broadly.

Authors wrote that the liking and selective ingestion of palatable foods--including sweets--is biologically controlled, and dysfunction of this regulation may promote unhealthy eating, obesity, and disease.

To explore the biological role of hormone FGF21in the human body, Gillum and his team conducted a separate clinical study that collected self-reported dietary intake as well as measures of cholesterol and glucose in the blood of participants.

FGF21 levels were measured after a 12-hour fast, and then monitored again after participants drank sugary water - equivalent to two cans of Coke.

Those who disliked sweets had fasting FGF21 blood levels 50% higher than their sweet-toothed counterparts.

"Our clinical trial suggests that human FGF21 may be a negative regulator of sweet consumption because it increased markedly after an oral sucrose load and because sweet-disliking individuals have elevated fasting FGF21 levels," the authors wrote.

Interestingly, the study also found an association between the hormone and alcohol consumption, however more research on this is needed the authors noted.

The study has been published in medical journal Cell Metabolism.

(With ANI inputs)