Sweet Tooth: Nature or Nurture? Role of Long-term Dietary Sweetness Exposure on Sweetness Preferences

Summary

In recent years, social pressure has been exerted towards lowering sugar and sweetness levels in foods, with the aim of decreasing the sweetness preference of the general population. However, the resilience/flexibility of sweetness preferences and the impact on energy intake is a fundamental knowledge gap. Recent, relatively long-term studies limited to no more than 3 months did not find a relationship between sweetness exposure and sweetness preferences. Therefore, a longer-term systematic investigation is necessary to objectively evaluate whether sweetness preferences can be altered via varying the sweetness exposure and whether it can affect other outcomes, such as perceived taste intensity, food intake, body weight, body composition, glucose homeostasis and sweet liker type. The study sample will consist of 180 subjects. Enrolled participants will be distributed into three intervention groups; regular dietary sweetness exposure (n=60); low dietary sweetness exposure (n=60); and high dietary sweetness exposure (n =60). The intervention is semi-controlled for a period of six months. Preference and perceived taste intensity of a series of familiar and unfamiliar foods will be assessed at baseline (Day 0), during the intervention (Month 1, Month 3, Month 6) and in the follow-up period (Month 7, Month 10). Furthermore, outcomes such as observed food choice and intake during a test meal, reported food preferences, reported food cravings, sweet-liker type, glucose homeostasis, body weight, body composition and biomarkers related to diabetes and cardiovascular disease will be assessed as well.

Conditions

• Food Preferences

Interventions

OTHER

Dietary intervention

Varying the exposure to sweetness via diet manipulation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bournemouth University

  collaborator OTHER

• TKI Agri & Food

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Next Food Collective

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• American Beverage Association

  collaborator OTHER

• Arla Foods

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Cargill

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Firmenich, Switzerland

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• International Sweeteners Association

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• SinoSweet, China

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Cosun Nutrition Center, Netherlands

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Unilever R&D

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Wageningen University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kees de Graaf · WU

• Monica Mars · WU

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-10-20

Primary Completion

2024-06-05

Completion

2024-06-05

Countries

• Netherlands

Study Locations