Development of Sweet Taste

Global trends in added sugars and non-nutritive sweetener use in the packaged food supply: drivers and implications for public health

OBJECTIVE

The health implications of excessive added sugar intakes have led to national policy actions to limit their consumption. Subsequently, non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) may be used to maintain product sweetness. We aimed to assess trends in quantities of added sugars and NNS sold in packaged food and beverages worldwide, and the association between these trends and the number of national policy actions across regions to reduce added sugar consumption.

DESIGN

(i) Longitudinal analysis of Euromonitor sales data (2007-2019) to assess the quantity of added sugars (kg) and NNS (g) sold in packaged foods and beverages globally, across regions, and across country income categories; (ii) policy-mapping of policy actions targeting added sugar consumption globally from the NOURISHING database; and (iii) Spearman's correlations to assess the association between national policy actions across regions and changes in added sugar/NNS sales.

SETTING

Worldwide.

PARTICIPANTS

Not applicable.

RESULTS

Per capita volumes of NNS from beverage sales increased globally (36 %). Added sugars from beverage sales decreased in high-income countries (22 %) but increased in upper-middle-income countries (UMIC) and lower-middle-income countries (LMIC) (13-40 %). Added sugars from packaged food sales increased globally (9 %). Regions with more policy actions had a significant increase in NNS quantities from beverage sales (r = 0·68, P = 0·04). The sweetness of the packaged food supply (the sweetness of each NNS and added sugar, relative to sucrose, multiplied by sales volume) increased over time.

CONCLUSIONS

The increasing use of NNS to sweeten beverages globally, and in packaged food in UMIC and LMIC, may have health and dietary implications in the future. Their use as a substitute for added sugar should be considered in public health nutrition policymaking.

Finding the Sweet Spot: Measurement, Modification, and Application of Sweet Hedonics in Humans

Sweetness is a sensation that contributes to the palatability of foods, which is the primary driver of food choice. Thus, understanding how to measure the appeal (hedonics) of sweetness and how to modify it are key to effecting dietary change for health. Sweet hedonics is multidimensional so can only be captured by multiple approaches including assessment of elements such as liking, preference, and consumption intent. There are both innate and learned components to the appeal of sweet foods and beverages. These are responsive to various behavioral and biological factors, suggesting the opportunity to modify intake. Given the high amount of added sugar intake in the United States and recommendations from many groups to reduce this, further exploration of current hypothesized approaches to moderate sugar intake (e.g., induced hedonic shift, use of low-calorie sweeteners) is warranted.

Obesity-induced taste dysfunction, and its implications for dietary intake

The incidence of obesity has dramatically increased in recent years, and poses a public health challenge for which an effective and scalable intervention strategy is yet to be found. Our food choices are one of the primary drivers of obesity, where the overconsumption of energy from foods high in fat and sugar can be particularly problematic. Unfortunately, these same foods also tend to be highly palatable. We select foods more on their sensory properties than on any other factor, such as price, convenience, or healthfulness. Previous evidence from human sensory studies has suggested a depressed sense of taste in panelists with obesity. Evidence from animal models also demonstrates a clear deficiency in taste buds occurring with obesity, suggesting that damage to the taste system may result from an obese state. In this review only taste, as opposed to smell, will be examined. Here we seek to bring together evidence from a diverse array of human and animal studies into taste response, dietary intake, and physiology, to better understand changes in taste with obesity, with the goal of understanding whether taste may provide a novel target for intervention in the treatment of obesity.

Dental erosion in the 21st century: what is happening to nutritional habits and lifestyle in our society?

Several developments in Western Europe may have contributed to the increased prevalence of dental erosion during the last decades. Exposing children to sour taste at an early age increases the preference for acidic food and drinks later in life. Acidic fruits and beverages became widely available due to economic prosperity. New types of acidic candies were developed, some of which are kept in the mouth for very long times. Children are exposed to intense marketing of these acidic products, which are widely available in supermarkets and school canteens. In the meantime, much less attention has been paid to the development and marketing of less erosive food products.

Nonnutritive sweetener consumption in humans: effects on appetite and food intake and their putative mechanisms

Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) are ecologically novel chemosensory signaling compounds that influence ingestive processes and behavior. Only about 15% of the US population aged >2 y ingest NNS, but the incidence is increasing. These sweeteners have the potential to moderate sugar and energy intakes while maintaining diet palatability, but their use has increased in concert with BMI in the population. This association may be coincidental or causal, and either mode of directionality is plausible. A critical review of the literature suggests that the addition of NNS to non-energy-yielding products may heighten appetite, but this is not observed under the more common condition in which NNS is ingested in conjunction with other energy sources. Substitution of NNS for a nutritive sweetener generally elicits incomplete energy compensation, but evidence of long-term efficacy for weight management is not available. The addition of NNS to diets poses no benefit for weight loss or reduced weight gain without energy restriction. There are long-standing and recent concerns that inclusion of NNS in the diet promotes energy intake and contributes to obesity. Most of the purported mechanisms by which this occurs are not supported by the available evidence, although some warrant further consideration. Resolution of this important issue will require long-term randomized controlled trials.

Evolution of Infant and Young Child Feeding: Implications for Contemporary Public Health

Evolutionary anthropological and ethnographic studies are used to develop a general conceptual framework for understanding prehistoric, historic, and contemporary variation in human lactation and complementary feeding patterns. Comparison of similarities and differences in human and nonhuman primate lactation biology suggests humans have evolved an unusually flexible strategy for feeding young. Several lines of indirect evidence are consistent with a hypothesis that complementary feeding evolved as a facultative strategy that provided a unique adaptation for resolving tradeoffs between maternal costs of lactation and risk of poor infant outcomes. This evolved flexibility may have been adaptive in the environments in which humans evolved, but it creates potential for mismatch between optimal and actual feeding practices in many contemporary populations.

Sweet and sour preferences during childhood: role of early experiences

We investigated the effects of early experience on sweet and sour preferences in children. Eighty-three children were divided into four groups based on the type of formula fed during infancy and age. By using a forced-choice, sip-and-swallow procedure, we determined the level of sweetness and sourness preferred in juice. Children who were fed protein hydrolysate formulas, which have a distinctive sour and bitter taste and unpleasant odor, preferred higher levels of citric acid in juice when compared to older children who were fed similar formulas. No such difference was observed between the groups for sweet preference. However, the level of sweetness preferred in juice was related to the sugar content of the child's favorite cereal and whether the mother routinely added sugar to their foods. These data illustrate the wide variety of experiential factors that can influence flavor preferences during childhood.