Alcohol may taste sweeter if you were exposed to it before birth, suggests a study in rats. The findings may shed new light【C1】______why human studies have previously【C2】______fetal alcohol exposure to increased alcohol【C3】______later in life, and to a【C4】______age at which a person【C5】______starts drinking alcohol. Alcohol's taste is a(n) 【C6】______of sweet and bitter components. To【C7】______whether prenatal alcohol exposure could【C8】______the perception of these components, Steven Youngentob at the State University of New York in Syracuse and John Glendinning at Columbia University in New York【C9】______how eagerly rats consumed alcohol, sweet water【C10】______bitter water. They found that young rats whose mothers had consumed alcohol during pregnancy【C11】______alcohol and consumed more of the bitter water than the【C12】______of mothers that didn't consume alcohol. Rats that had been exposed to alcohol before birth also seemed to be more【C13】______to the smell of alcohol. Prenatal exposure seems to reduce the【C14】______bitterness of alcohol, making it seem【C15】______, says Youngentob. Both of these differences seemed to【C16】______once the rats reached adulthood—but【C17】______they hadn't tasted alcohol during their youth. If prena-tally exposed rats did consume alcohol in their youth, these preferences seemed to become【C18】______for life. "The take-home message is to keep kids away from【C19】______for as long as possible—【C20】______if they have had prenatal exposure," says Youngentob.