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Completed

NCT Number: NCT02090478

The Effect of Dietary Sugar Consumption on Sweet Taste Perception

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

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Key information

Conditions

Sweet Taste Perception

Age range

18 year–60 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Monell Chemical Senses Center

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19014, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

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

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Sweet Taste Intensity over Five Months

    Time frame: 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

  2. Change in Pleasantness Over Five Months

    Time frame: 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

  1. Sucrose detection thresholds

    Time frame: Every month (for five months)

    Test of the minimum concentration of sucrose solution that subjects can discriminate from water. Forced-choice, ascending concentration method.

  2. Body mass index

    Time frame: 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)

  3. Diet records

    Time frame: Every month (five month total)

    Subject reported in detail the types and quantities of the foods and beverages they ate.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Monell Chemical Senses Center

Other

Collaborators

  • PepsiCo Global R&D

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2010
Primary completion
2011
First posted
Mar 18, 2014
Registry last updated
Mar 18, 2014

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.