Six-Month Trial: Cutting Sweet Foods Fails to Curb Cravings
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- Researchers at Wageningen University and Bournemouth University randomized 180 participants into high-, low-, and average-sweetness diet groups for six months and found no significant differences in sweet taste liking, body weight, or diabetes and cardiovascular risk markers between groups.
- Katherine Appleton, Professor in Psychology at Bournemouth University and corresponding author, said the results do not support WHO-style advice to reduce sweet-tasting foods broadly, because sweetness can come from sugar, low-calorie sweeteners, or natural sources with very different nutritional profiles.
- The test diets' sweetness came from a mix of added sugar, naturally occurring sugars, and low-calorie sweeteners — and participants tended to drift back to their pre-trial eating patterns after the study ended.
- The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2026, Vol. 123, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1016/ajcnut.2025.09.041) as the 'Sweet Tooth Trial,' a parallel randomized controlled trial.
- The research team argues public health advice should target sugar and energy-dense foods rather than sweet taste, noting that some fast-food items carry high sugar without tasting sweet while naturally sweet foods like fruit and dairy offer health benefits.
Why it matters: For public health bodies like the WHO that have urged consumers to dial back sweet-tasting foods, this six-month, 180-person trial undercuts that framing and shifts the recommended target onto added sugar and calorie density. Consumers following taste-based guidance could end up avoiding fruit and dairy while missing added sugar hidden in savory processed foods.
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