Sweet Taste Perception
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of the study is to determine how reducing the amount of simple sugars in the diet affects sweet taste perception. Healthy adult subjects will be assigned to either follow their usual diet, or to replace sugar calories with fats or starch. The investigators hypothesize that eating less sugar will: 1. cause foods and drinks with a given amount of sugar to taste sweeter 2. cause people to prefer lower levels of sugar in foods and drinks
Interventions
OTHERLow sugar diet
All subjects followed their usual diet during month 1. For months 2-4: sham diet intervention for the control group, 40% reduction in sugar calories for the experimental group. All subjects were allowed to chose any diet they wished during month 5.
OTHERSham diet manipulation
Subjects in the control group will meet with a dietician and discuss diet records, but the dietician will not instruct the control subjects to reduce the number of calories from simple sugars in the diet
Sponsors
PepsiCo Global R&D
Monell Chemical Senses Center
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Good general heath (by self report) * Consume at least 2 sugar-containing soft drinks/day on average) * Able to control diet (select their own foods)
Exclusion criteria
* Major illness of any kind within the last six months, or any chronic illness * Daily use of medication, except for birth control, vitamins, and aspirin * Regularly consume non-nutritive sweeteners * Pregnant women * Gained or lost 10% or more of their body weight in the last 3 months
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Sweet Taste Intensity over Five Months | Monthly (for five months) | Subjects rated the sweetness of pudding and beverage samples that varied in sucrose concentration during each study month to determine how perception changes over time with diet manipulations |
| Change in Pleasantness Over Five Months | Monthly (five month participation duration total) | Subjects rated hedonic value (degree to which the sample was pleasant) for model pudding and beverages that differed in concentration of sucrose once each month over five months to determine how perception changed over time with the diet manipulation |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sucrose detection thresholds | Every month (for five months) | Test of the minimum concentration of sucrose solution that subjects can discriminate from water. Forced-choice, ascending concentration method. |
| Body mass index | Every month (five months total) | BMI, calculated based on weight and height. This was measured both to balance treatment groups and to ensure that assigned diets maintained adequate energy balance (no change in BMI over the study was the ideal outcome for all groups) |
| Diet records | Every month (five month total) | Subject reported in detail the types and quantities of the foods and beverages they ate. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed