Sponsored By: PepsiCo 

Health policy discussions have recently been shifting from a focus on “sugar-sweetened foods and beverages” to “sweetened foods and beverages” when looking at sweetness delivery, regardless of whether the source is sugar or low-calorie sweeteners (LCS). While some believe that the human attraction to sweetness is a potential risk for developing less healthy eating habits, this belief fails to distinguish between the sources of sweetness that contribute added sugars and calories to the diet and those that add sweetness as a taste.

The purpose of this session is to explore some of the research questions on the topic of sweetness, spark interest and encourage researchers to take interest in this emerging science. Topics to be discussed include the potential impact of consuming sweet diets on the desire for sweetness, as well the impact on appetite, diet quality, energy intake and body weight.

This webinar originally broadcasted on July 28, 2020.

Learning Objectives

• Describe challenges to measuring the sweetness of the total diet.
• Summarize the current literature on sweet taste exposure and its impacts on the desire for sweetness, as well the impact on appetite, diet quality, energy intake and body weight.
• Discuss possible future directions in research on sweet taste.