No effects of sweet taste exposure at breakfast for 3 weeks on pleasantness, desire for, sweetness or intake of other sweet foods: a randomized controlled trial.

Abstract

This work investigated the effects of repeated sweet taste exposure at breakfast on perceptions and intakes of other sweet foods, while also examining effects due to duration of exposure (1/3 weeks), test context (breakfast/lunch), and associations between taste perceptions and intakes. Using a randomised controlled parallel-groups design, participants (N=54, 18 male, mean age: 23.9±5.8yrs, mean BMI: 23.6±3.5kg/m2) were randomized to consume either a sweet breakfast (cereal with sucralose) (N=27) or an equicaloric non-sweet breakfast (plain cereal) (N=27) for 3 weeks. On days 0 (baseline), 7, and 21, pleasantness, desire to eat and sweetness were rated for other sweet and non-sweet foods, and sweet food consumption was assessed in an ad-libitum meal at breakfast and lunch. Using intention-to-treat analyses, no statistically significant effects of exposure were found at breakfast (largest F(2,104)=1.84, p=0.17, ηp2=0.03), or lunch (largest F(1,52)=1.22, p=0.27, ηp2=0.02), and using Bayesian analyses, the evidence for an absence of effect in all rating measures was strong to very strong (smallest BF01=297.97 (BF01error=2.68%)). Associations between ratings of pleasantness, desire to eat and intake were found (smallest r=0.137, p<0.01). Effects over time regardless of exposure were also found: sugars and percent energy consumed from sweet foods increased throughout the study smallest (F(2,104)=4.54, p=0.01, ηp2=0.08). These findings demonstrate no effects of sweet taste exposure at breakfast for 1 or 3 weeks on pleasantness, desire for, sweetness or intakes of other sweet foods in either the same (breakfast) or in a different (lunch) meal context.