Cutting sweet foods doesn’t curb cravings or improve health
A six-month study suggests that reducing sweet-tasting foods does not significantly change taste preferences or improve health markers like heart disease risk. Researchers argue that focusing on total sugar and energy intake is more effective than targeting sweetness itself.
Why it matters
The findings challenge common public health advice regarding sugar reduction and weight management.
A new six-month trial suggests that changing how much sweet-tasting food people eat does not alter how much they enjoy sweetness. Researchers also found no meaningful differences in several measures related to heart disease and diabetes risk among people who ate diets with high, low, or average levels of sweetness.
The findings raise questions about public health advice that encourages people to reduce sweet-tasting foods as a way to combat overweight and obesity. The researchers argue that the more important targets may be sugar intake and energy-dense foods rather than sweetness itself.
Sweetness Intake Did Not Change Taste Preferences
The study was conducted by researchers at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands and Bournemouth University in the UK. The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in