A large clinical trial found that changing how much sweetness people consume does not affect their preference for sweet tastes or their metabolic health.
Adjusting how much sweetness people consume appears to have no effect on how much they enjoy sweet foods, according to a new clinical trial.
Researchers also found that participants who either raised or lowered their intake of sweet-tasting foods over six months showed no meaningful changes in markers related to cardiovascular disease or diabetes risk.
Because of these findings, the team suggests that public health organizations may need to reconsider current recommendations that focus on cutting sweet foods as a strategy for addressing the obesity crisis.
The study was conducted by Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands and Bournemouth University in the UK, and the results were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“People have a natural love of sweet taste, which has led many organizations, including the World Health Organization, to offer dietary advice on reducing the amount of sweetness in our diets altogether,” said Katherine Appleton, Professor in Psychology at Bournemouth University and corresponding author for the study. “However, our results do not support this advice, which does not consider whether the sweet taste comes from sugar, low-calorie sweeteners, or natural sources,” she added.
Study Design
During the trial, 180 participants were split into three groups. One group consumed a diet containing a high amount of sweet-tasting food, a second group consumed a low amount, and a third consumed an average amount. The sweetness in the foods provided for their diets came from a combination of sugar, natural sweetness, or low-calorie sweeteners.
After one, three, and six months, participants were surveyed on whether their liking and perception of sweet foods had changed. They were also weighed and provided blood and urine samples to measure any changes in their diabetes risk and cardiovascular health.
Results and Interpretation
At the end of the trial, the researchers found no significant differences in any of the measures across the three groups. Participants also reported a spontaneous return to their previous intake of sweet foods after the six months.
Based on their results, the study team are recommending that public health organizations may need to change their current advice on reducing sweet foods to tackle overweight and obesity.
“It’s not about eating less sweet food to reduce obesity levels,” Professor Appleton said. “The health concerns relate to sugar consumption. Some fast-food items may not taste sweet but can contain high levels of sugar. Similarly, many naturally sweet products, such as fresh fruit and dairy products, can have health benefits. Public advice, therefore, needs to concentrate on how people can reduce the amount of sugar and energy-dense foods they consume,” she concluded.
Reference: “The Sweet Tooth Trial: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Effects of A 6-Month Low, Regular, or High Dietary Sweet Taste Exposure on Sweet Taste Liking, and Various Outcomes Related to Food Intake and Weight Status” by Eva M Čad, Monica Mars, Leoné Pretorius, Merel van der Kruijssen, Claudia S Tang, Hanne BT de Jong, Michiel Balvers, Katherine M Appleton and Kees de Graaf, 27 November 2025, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.09.041
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3 Comments
Such a small study and is six months really enough to reach the conclusion? I would have been happier if disclamation was added.
Conflict of interest
EMC, CST, LP, HBTdJ, MvdK declare that they do not have any competing interests. MM has previously received research funding from Royal Cosun (sugar beet refinery) and Sensus (inulin producer) and has received expenses from ILSI Europe. MB has received research funding from Horizon 2020 SWEET (grant agreement ID 774293). KMA has previously received research funding from the International Sweeteners Association, BE, and has current funding from The Coca Cola Company, US, and Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition North America Inc. US; KMA has received speaker’s expenses from EatWell Global and PepsiCo. KdG is a member of the Global Nutrition Advisory Board of Mars company. KdG has received travel, hotel, and speaker renumeration from the International Sweeteners Association, and received speaker expenses from ILSI North America.
“As a senior lay American male who first wrote the original perpetrator of the global obesity crisis (with replies), the US FDA, of my early lay findings of connections between food allergies, added MSG, chronic diseases and obesity in October of 2005 (twenty full years ago; obviously, now, in-vain), I can not only agree with the author’s findings but I can help to explain them. There is a kind of practically harmless brief (about 6 to 12 hours) individual nearly subclinical (sub-acute) non-IgE-mediated food allergy reaction that is to proteins (not sugars/sweets), can slow one’s metabolism down and can be extended and/or intensified to turn them chronic and deadly dangerous, long-term (highly individual), by at least FDA approved (1980) added artificially cultured “free” (can cross the blood brain barrier) MSG (monosodium glutamate). For a brief overview and summary of my lay findings: https://odysee.com/@charlesgshaver:d?view=about“