New research presented at the American Society of Nutrition’s 2025 annual meeting has shown that eating more or fewer sweet-tasting foods is unlikely to change your preference for sweets.
The study included a six-month randomized controlled trial that involved three groups of about 60 individuals each. One group was given a diet of mostly sweets, one group was given a less-sweet diet, and the third group was given a mix of sweet and less-sweet foods. This was accomplished by delivering food and drink packages to each participant every two weeks throughout the study, which provided about half of each participant’s food intake. The carbohydrate, fat, and protein content of each provided diet was matched. The participants also received daily suggested menus, but they were not required to follow the menus. Each individual’s preference for sweet tastes was measured before the start of the study, twice during the study, immediately after the intervention ended, and one and four months after the intervention ended. Various health measures were also taken during the study, including total energy intake, macronutrient intake, body weight, body composition, cholesterol, and more.
The results showed that lower exposure to sweet-tasting foods did not change the participants’ preference for sweet foods. It also did not change sweet taste perception, food choice, or total energy intake. Those who were provided more sweet-tasting foods did not show a preference for sweet foods. Participants in both groups returned to their baseline levels of sweet food consumption at one and four months after the intervention had ended.
The authors noted that these results are important because many people avoid sweet foods because they think eating sweet foods will increase their preference for sweet foods. However, this study has shown that this thought is likely a myth. While avoiding excess sugar intake is good for overall health, metabolism, and heart health, avoiding sweet tastes will likely not decrease your preference for sweets.
Sources: American Society of Nutrition, Science Daily
