There is a common belief that reducing sugar intake naturally diminishes the desire for sweetness over time. This belief is also widespread among people who follow diets that restrict sugar consumption. However, a six-month clinical trial has found that reducing exposure to sweetness produces no clear change in either sweet preference or body weight.
According to the medical community Monday, a research team led by Professor Catherine Appleton at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom recently divided 180 adults with an average age of 35 into three groups, having each maintain a low-sugar diet, a regular diet, or a high-sugar diet for six months. Before and after the experiment, the team compared and analyzed key health indicators, including sweet preference, frequency of sweet food consumption, body weight, waist circumference, and blood sugar.
The results ran counter to common belief. The group that followed the low-sugar diet did not show a significant reduction in sweet cravings, and the high-sugar diet group showed no confirmed tendency toward stronger sweet preference. There were also no statistically significant differences among the three groups in physical indicators such as body weight, waist circumference, and blood sugar. The study did not establish a causal relationship between the level of sweetness exposure and health indicators.
The research team drew a clear line, saying the findings do not mean there is no need to limit sweet food intake. They explained that complex factors such as the calorie composition of the overall diet, the frequency of processed food consumption, and eating patterns may have a greater impact on health than sweetness exposure itself.
"Reducing sweetness does not mean the desire for sweet foods disappears immediately," the research team said. "Rather than unconditional restriction, a realistic approach is to reduce the habit of eating sweets as snacks and to control the amount consumed."
The study was published in the latest issue of the international journal the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
