Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot study
Abstract Humans seek to eat what is palatable, especially when snacking. Theoretically, a person who enjoys sweet taste more may choose snacks with higher sugar and calories, leading to lower overall diet quality, yet individual eating behavior traits may interfere with this relationship. We investi...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2025-05-01
|
| Series: | BMC Nutrition |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-025-01076-4 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849726022000312320 |
|---|---|
| author | Faye Guarneri Liz Cortes Caren Ghali Janel Clovis Enrique R. Pouget Stephanie Hunter May M. Cheung |
| author_facet | Faye Guarneri Liz Cortes Caren Ghali Janel Clovis Enrique R. Pouget Stephanie Hunter May M. Cheung |
| author_sort | Faye Guarneri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Humans seek to eat what is palatable, especially when snacking. Theoretically, a person who enjoys sweet taste more may choose snacks with higher sugar and calories, leading to lower overall diet quality, yet individual eating behavior traits may interfere with this relationship. We investigated the influences of sweet taste preference (assessed using a forced-choice paired-comparison method) and eating behaviors (i.e., uncontrolled eating, emotional eating, and cognitive restraint using the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire–R18) on diet quality and added sugars intake (validated short Healthy Eating Index survey) in 65 adults (23.0 ± 5.5 years). Participants were divided into sweet dislike, moderate sweet liker, and extreme sweet liker groups by preferred sucrose concentration tertiles. Most participants selected a low-calorie, high-sweetness snack, and neither sweet preference nor eating behavior traits were associated with snack choice. Compared to extreme sweet likers, sweet dislikers and moderate sweet likers had a lower added sugars intake, F(2, 62) = 7.32, p = 0.001, and better diet quality, F(2, 62) = 4.06, p = 0.02. Preferred sucrose concentration correlated only with higher added sugars intake (r = 0.49, p < 0.001) and lower diet quality (r = -0.27, p = 0.03) but not with the intake of other food groups. Higher sweet preference increased the odds of consuming medium (OR = 2.18, 95% CI = 0.32, 6.08) and high (OR = 3.17, 95% CI = 1.85, 7.86) amounts of added sugars. Adding other covariates did not improve the statistical model. Interestingly, only sweet preference, but not added sugars intake and eating behaviors, was associated with diet quality. Thus, our data suggest that sweet preference may have a stronger influence on added sugars intake and diet quality compared to eating behaviors, although these findings should be replicated in other populations and with a larger sample size. Future studies may also assess liking for other sensory qualities (e.g., fat liking) to understand the contributions of taste preference to nutrient intake and diet quality. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5cec913c07b04b30853bedce68c9ded0 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2055-0928 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Nutrition |
| spelling | doaj-art-5cec913c07b04b30853bedce68c9ded02025-08-20T03:10:18ZengBMCBMC Nutrition2055-09282025-05-0111111410.1186/s40795-025-01076-4Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot studyFaye Guarneri0Liz Cortes1Caren Ghali2Janel Clovis3Enrique R. Pouget4Stephanie Hunter5May M. Cheung6Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences, City University of New York, Brooklyn CollegeDepartment of Health and Nutrition Sciences, City University of New York, Brooklyn CollegeDepartment of Health and Nutrition Sciences, City University of New York, Brooklyn CollegeDepartment of Health and Nutrition Sciences, City University of New York, Brooklyn CollegeDepartment of Health and Nutrition Sciences, City University of New York, Brooklyn CollegeMonell Chemical Senses CenterDepartment of Health and Nutrition Sciences, City University of New York, Brooklyn CollegeAbstract Humans seek to eat what is palatable, especially when snacking. Theoretically, a person who enjoys sweet taste more may choose snacks with higher sugar and calories, leading to lower overall diet quality, yet individual eating behavior traits may interfere with this relationship. We investigated the influences of sweet taste preference (assessed using a forced-choice paired-comparison method) and eating behaviors (i.e., uncontrolled eating, emotional eating, and cognitive restraint using the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire–R18) on diet quality and added sugars intake (validated short Healthy Eating Index survey) in 65 adults (23.0 ± 5.5 years). Participants were divided into sweet dislike, moderate sweet liker, and extreme sweet liker groups by preferred sucrose concentration tertiles. Most participants selected a low-calorie, high-sweetness snack, and neither sweet preference nor eating behavior traits were associated with snack choice. Compared to extreme sweet likers, sweet dislikers and moderate sweet likers had a lower added sugars intake, F(2, 62) = 7.32, p = 0.001, and better diet quality, F(2, 62) = 4.06, p = 0.02. Preferred sucrose concentration correlated only with higher added sugars intake (r = 0.49, p < 0.001) and lower diet quality (r = -0.27, p = 0.03) but not with the intake of other food groups. Higher sweet preference increased the odds of consuming medium (OR = 2.18, 95% CI = 0.32, 6.08) and high (OR = 3.17, 95% CI = 1.85, 7.86) amounts of added sugars. Adding other covariates did not improve the statistical model. Interestingly, only sweet preference, but not added sugars intake and eating behaviors, was associated with diet quality. Thus, our data suggest that sweet preference may have a stronger influence on added sugars intake and diet quality compared to eating behaviors, although these findings should be replicated in other populations and with a larger sample size. Future studies may also assess liking for other sensory qualities (e.g., fat liking) to understand the contributions of taste preference to nutrient intake and diet quality.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-025-01076-4SweetSugarTaste preferenceDiet qualityHealth eating indexSnacks |
| spellingShingle | Faye Guarneri Liz Cortes Caren Ghali Janel Clovis Enrique R. Pouget Stephanie Hunter May M. Cheung Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot study BMC Nutrition Sweet Sugar Taste preference Diet quality Health eating index Snacks |
| title | Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot study |
| title_full | Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot study |
| title_fullStr | Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot study |
| title_short | Sweet taste preference on snack choice, added sugars intake, and diet quality– a pilot study |
| title_sort | sweet taste preference on snack choice added sugars intake and diet quality a pilot study |
| topic | Sweet Sugar Taste preference Diet quality Health eating index Snacks |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-025-01076-4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fayeguarneri sweettastepreferenceonsnackchoiceaddedsugarsintakeanddietqualityapilotstudy AT lizcortes sweettastepreferenceonsnackchoiceaddedsugarsintakeanddietqualityapilotstudy AT carenghali sweettastepreferenceonsnackchoiceaddedsugarsintakeanddietqualityapilotstudy AT janelclovis sweettastepreferenceonsnackchoiceaddedsugarsintakeanddietqualityapilotstudy AT enriquerpouget sweettastepreferenceonsnackchoiceaddedsugarsintakeanddietqualityapilotstudy AT stephaniehunter sweettastepreferenceonsnackchoiceaddedsugarsintakeanddietqualityapilotstudy AT maymcheung sweettastepreferenceonsnackchoiceaddedsugarsintakeanddietqualityapilotstudy |