Effects of a Six-Day, Whole-Diet Sweet Taste Intervention on Pleasantness, Desire for, and Intakes of Sweet Foods: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

Reduced exposure to sweet taste has been proposed to reduce sweet food preferences and intakes, but the evidence to support these associations is limited. This randomised controlled trial investigated the effects of a whole-diet sweet taste intervention for 6 days, on subsequent pleasantness, desire for, and sweet food intakes. Participants ( 104) were randomised to increase ( 40), decrease ( 43), or make no change to ( 21) their consumption of sweet-tasting foods and beverages for six consecutive days.

Nutrient clustering, NOVA classification, and nutrient profiling: How do they overlap, and what do they predict about food palatability?

We compared the performance of three food categorisation metrics in predicting palatability (taste pleasantness) using a dataset of 52 foods, each rated virtually (online) by 72-224 participants familiar with the foods in question, as described in Appetite 193 (2024) 107124. The metrics were nutrient clustering, NOVA, and nutrient profiling. The first two of these metrics were developed to identify, respectively: 'hyper-palatable' foods (HPFs); and ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which are claimed to be 'made to be hyper-palatable'.

Evidence that carbohydrate-to-fat ratio and taste, but not energy density or NOVA level of processing, are determinants of food liking and food reward.

This virtual (online) study tested the common but largely untested assumptions that food energy density, level of processing (NOVA categories), and carbohydrate-to-fat (CF) ratio are key determinants of food reward. Individual participants (224 women and men, mean age 35 y, 53% with healthy weight, 43% with overweight or obesity) were randomised to one of three, within-subjects, study arms: energy density (32 foods), or level of processing (24 foods), or CF ratio (24 foods). They rated the foods for taste pleasantness (liking), desire to eat (food reward), and sweetness, saltiness, and flavour intensity (for analysis averaged as taste intensity).

Further evidence for sensitivity to energy density and a two-component model of meal size: Analysis of meal calorie intakes in Argentina and Malaysia.

Previously, we demonstrated a non-linear association between meal caloric intake and meal energy density (ED, kcal/g) in data from a controlled trial in the US and from free-living participants in the UK [1]. In both datasets, meal caloric intake increased with ED in lower energy-dense meals (below ∼1.75 kcal/g) and decreased in higher energy-dense meals (above ∼1.

A social norm intervention increases liking and intake of whole crickets, and what this tells us about food disgust.

Edible insects are healthy and sustainable but are rejected as food in Western populations due to disgust. We tested the effectiveness of written interventions to reduce disgust and increase intake of whole crickets. Cricket acceptance after reading a descriptive social norm or food preparation intervention passage was compared with a control passage, and an unfamiliar but non-disgusting food ('leblebi' - roasted chickpeas).

It tastes OK, but I don't want to eat it: New insights into food disgust.

To better understand food-disgust, we investigated the long-standing theory that disgust towards a food causes it to taste 'bad'. To induce disgust, participants were served cookies labelled as containing crickets (Study 1); or served whole crickets versus novel (leblebi) and familiar (peanuts) control foods (Study 2). Participants (Study 1: N = 80; Study 2: N = 90) tasted the foods and rated taste pleasantness, desire to eat, disgust and, in Study 1, 16 taste attributes (e.

Human nutritional intelligence underestimated? Exposing sensitivities to food composition in everyday dietary decisions.

The social and cultural significance of food is woven into every aspect of our dietary behaviour, and it contributes to our complex interaction with food. To find order within this complexity scientists often look for dietary 'universals' - phenomena or basic principles that guide our food choice and meal size, irrespective of wider context. One such idea is that taste characteristics provide a signal for dietary composition (e.

Consumers' attitudes towards alternatives to conventional meat products: Expectations about taste and satisfaction, and the role of disgust.

The livestock sector has environmental, health, and animal welfare impacts. This UK-based, quantitative study aimed to elucidate consumers' valuation of alternatives to conventional meat products. In an online study, 151 meat eaters and 44 non-meat eaters were shown pictures of meat, dairy, and bakery products, including beef burger, cheese sandwich and blueberry muffin.

Apple versus chocolate: Evidence for discrimination of distension-related and calorie-related satiety signals in post-prandial fullness and hunger, and in the quality and location of other body sensations.

Gastric distension and detection of macronutrients (calories) in the gut are determinants of satiation and satiety. We tested effects of these variables on body sensations after eating, and their connection with visual-analogue scale (VAS) hunger and fullness ratings. Participants completed VAS ratings and quality and location of body sensations tasks after consumption of milk chocolate (38 g, 200 kcal) versus fresh apple fruit matched for weight (38 g, 20 kcal) and matched for calories (380 g, 200 kcal).

Attitudes to Three Weight Maintenance Strategies: A Qualitative Study.

Weight loss maintenance can be difficult and ultimately unsuccessful, due to psychological, behavioural, social, and physiological influences. The present study investigated three strategies with the potential to improve weight maintenance success: daily weighing, missing an occasional meal, habitually changing high energy foods. The principal aim was to gain an understanding of attitudes to these strategies in participants who had recent experience of weight loss attempts, with or without maintenance.

Preference for high-carbohydrate foods does not change for children and adolescents in insulin-induced hypoglycemia.

Introduction: Hypoglycemia elicits coordinated counter-regulatory neuroendocrine responses. The extent to which this process involves an increased drive to eat, together with greater preference for foods high in carbohydrate content, is unclear. Our objective was to examine this effect in children and adolescents (age 5-19 years) without diabetes and no prior known experience of hypoglycemic episodes.

Restricting sugar or carbohydrate intake does not impact physical activity level or energy intake over 24 h despite changes in substrate use: a randomised crossover study in healthy men and women.

Purpose: To determine the effects of dietary sugar or carbohydrate restriction on physical activity energy expenditure, energy intake, and physiological outcomes across 24 h.

Methods: In a randomized, open-label crossover design, twenty-five healthy men (n = 10) and women (n = 15) consumed three diets over a 24-h period: moderate carbohydrate and sugar content (MODSUG = 50% carbohydrate [20% sugars], 15% protein, 35% fat); low sugar content (LOWSUG = 50% carbohydrate [< 5% sugars], 15% protein, 35% fat); and low carbohydrate content (LOWCHO = 8% carbohydrate [< 5% sugars], 15% protein, 77% fat). Postprandial metabolic responses to a prescribed breakfast (20% EI) were monitored under laboratory conditions before an ad libitum test lunch, with subsequent diet and physical activity monitoring under free-living conditions until blood sample collection the following morning.

Consumption of low-calorie sweetened drinks is associated with 'sweet satiation', but not with 'sweet-taste confusion': A virtual study.

Originating from studies on rats, the 'taste confusion' hypothesis predicts that exposure to low-calorie sweeteners (LCS) will impair compensatory responses to sugar intake, resulting in increased overall calorie intake. We conducted a virtual study in which young adult human participants (n = 332), who differed in their history of exposure to sweet drinks (e.g.

Time to revisit the passive overconsumption hypothesis? Humans show sensitivity to calories in energy-rich meals.

Background: A possible driver of obesity is insensitivity (passive overconsumption) to food energy density (ED, kcal/g); however, it is unclear whether this insensitivity applies to all meals.

Objectives: We assessed the influence of ED on energy intake (kcal) across a broad and continuous range of EDs comprised of noncovertly manipulated, real-world meals. We also allowed for the possibility that the association between energy intake and ED is nonlinear.

Varied Effects of COVID-19 Chemosensory Loss and Distortion on Appetite: Implications for Understanding Motives for Eating and Drinking.

A common symptom of COVID-19 is altered smell and taste. This qualitative study sought to further characterise this altered chemosensory perception and its effects on appetite for food and drink. Eighteen women and two men who had experienced chemosensory loss associated with COVID-19 participated in semi-structured interviews.

Stress, caffeine and psychosis-like experiences-A double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment.

Objective: Psychosis-like perceptual distortions can occur in the general population, and both stress and caffeine can enhance the proneness to psychosis-like experiences, such as hallucinations. The current study aims to explore the effects of acute caffeine intake and acute stress on perceptual distortions in a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment.

Methods: Regular caffeine consumers (n = 92) and non/low consumers (n = 89) were assigned to 100 mg caffeine/placebo and stress/no stress conditions.

Associations between plasma fatty acid concentrations and schizophrenia: a two-sample Mendelian randomisation study.

Background: Although studies suggest that concentrations of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are lower in individuals with schizophrenia, evidence for beneficial effects of fatty acid supplementation is scarce. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to determine whether omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid concentrations are causally related to schizophrenia.

Methods: We did a two-sample Mendelian randomisation study, using deidentified summary-level data that were publicly available.

No effects of sweet taste exposure at breakfast for 3 weeks on pleasantness, desire for, sweetness or intake of other sweet foods: a randomised controlled trial.

This work investigated the effects of repeated sweet taste exposure at breakfast on perceptions and intakes of other sweet foods, while also examining the effects due to duration of exposure (1/3 weeks), test context (breakfast/lunch) and associations between taste perceptions and intakes. Using a randomised controlled parallel-group design, participants (n 54, 18 male, mean age: 23·9 (sd 5·8) years, mean BMI: 23·6 (sd 3·5) kg/m2) were randomised to consume either a sweet breakfast (cereal with sucralose) (n 27) or an equienergetic non-sweet breakfast (plain cereal) (n 27) for 3 weeks. On days 0 (baseline), 7 and 21, pleasantness, desire to eat and sweetness were rated for other sweet and non-sweet foods and sweet food consumption was assessed in an ad libitum meal at breakfast and lunch.