The Effect of Dietary Sugar Consumption on Sweet Taste Perception

NCT02090478 — Not applicable, Completed, 50 participants, Monell Chemical Senses Center

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Registry	NCT02090478
Status	Completed
Phase	Not applicable
Study type	Interventional; randomized, parallel, masking: none, basic science
Enrollment	50 (Actual)
Sponsor	Monell Chemical Senses Center (Other); collaborators: PepsiCo Global R&D
Conditions	Sweet Taste Perception
Interventions	Low sugar diet, Sham diet manipulation (Other)
Dates	start 2010-10-01, primary completion 2011-06-01, first posted 2014-03-18, last updated 2014-03-18
Locations	1 site in United States

-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

Expand all sections · Collapse all

+Arms and interventions

Arm	Type	Interventions	Description
No change in dietary sugar levels	Sham comparator	Other: Sham diet manipulation	Group met with a dietician as often as the control group to discuss diet, but the dietician gave them advice geared toward no change in dietary sugar levels
Low sugar group	Experimental	Other: Low sugar diet	Subjects met with a dietician who discussed diet records. After the first month (baseline, regular diet), the dietician made suggestions geared toward reducing calories from simple sugars by 40%. This will be achieved by replacing sugar calories with complex carbohydrates and fats, while maintaining energy balance (same number of calories as the baseline month).

Low sugar diet (Other): 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.
Sham diet manipulation (Other): 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

+Outcome measures

Primary outcomes

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 outcomes

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.

+Eligibility

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to 60 Years, accepts healthy volunteers

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

+Locations (1)

Facility	City	Country	Status
Monell Chemical Senses Center	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	United States

+Publications

Results publication: Wise PM, Nattress L, Flammer LJ, Beauchamp GK. Reduced dietary intake of simple sugars alters perceived sweet taste intensity but not perceived pleasantness. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Jan;103(1):50-60. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.115.112300. Epub 2015 Nov 25. PMID 26607941

+Investigators

Paul M Wise, PhD, Principal investigator, Monell Chemical Senses Center