Presentation Details
| Reduced Sugar Diets Do Not Affect Perceived Sweetness or Most Liked Sugar Concentration in Model Foods and Beverages Paul M Wise, Gary K Beauchamp. Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
Abstract
Would consumers adjust to reduced added sugars in the food supply, blunting the sweet tooth? To help address this question a diet-controlled, double-blind trial was conducted to test the hypothesis that adults who consume a low sugar diet will prefer less sugar in and taste foods/beverages as sweeter than before the low sugar diet. Participants were 83 healthy adults who consumed > 10% of their total energy from added sugars. After a baseline period (usual diet), participants were assigned to one of 3 study arms with all meals provided for 11 weeks. A comparison group ate the average amount of added sugars for people who consume > 10% of their energy from added sugars. The other two groups consumed 70% less added sugars (37% less total sugars) than the comparison group. For one reduced sugar group sweetness was partially replaced with low calorie sweeteners (LCSs). LCSs were not used for the other reduced sugar group. At baseline and the end of each controlled feeding month participants rated liking and sweetness intensity for a model food and beverage ranging from weakly to strongly sweet. After controlled feeding, participants resumed an uncontrolled diet of their choice for 5-12 weeks before returning for follow-up testing. For both sweetness and most liked sugar concentration, baseline scores were subtracted from post-feeding scores. Resulting difference scores for the reduced sugar groups were compared to the comparison group (Mann-Whitney U tests). No significant differences found (296.5 <U <421.5, p <0.13) and most difference scores were close to 0. These results suggest that the sweet tooth may be less malleable than the taste for salt and imply that other strategies besides sensory acclimation may be required to facilitate reduced sugar intake.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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