A workshop on ‘Dietary Sweetness—Is It an Issue?’

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2018-04, Vol.42 (4), p.934-938
• Main Authors: Wittekind, Anna, Higgins, Kelly, McGale, Lauren, Schwartz, Camille, Stamataki, Nikoleta S, Beauchamp, Gary K, Bonnema, Angela, Dussort, Pierre, Gibson, Sigrid, de Graaf, Cees, Halford, Jason C G, Marsaux, Cyril F M, Mattes, Richard D, McLaughlin, John, Mela, David J, Nicklaus, Sophie, Rogers, Peter J, Macdonald, Ian A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/443/319/1488/393; 631/45/72/1201; 692/499; 692/700/478; Adult; Calories; Chair Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour; Child; Children; Conferences, meetings and seminars; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Diet; Diet - methods; Diet - psychology; Diet - statistics & numerical data; Education; Energy Intake; Epidemiology; Europe; Food and Nutrition; Food intake; Food Preferences - physiology; Food Preferences - psychology; Forums (Discussion and debate); Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; HNE Sensoriek en Eetgedrag; HNE Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour; Humans; Internal Medicine; Life Sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - physiology; Obesity; Public Health; Quality management; Receptors; Sensoriek en eetgedrag; Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour; Sugar; Sweet taste; Sweeteners; Sweetening Agents; Sweetness; Sweetness (Taste); Taste - physiology; Taste receptors; technical-report; Tongue; Tracking; VLAG
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497; 1476-5497; 0307-0565
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2017.296

This report summarises a workshop convened by ILSI Europe on 3 and 4 April 2017 to discuss the issue of dietary sweetness. The objectives were to understand the roles of sweetness in the diet, establish whether exposure to sweetness affects diet quality and energy intake, and consider whether sweetness per se affects health. Although there may be evidence for tracking of intake of some sweet components of the diet through childhood, evidence for tracking of whole diet sweetness, or through other stages of maturity are lacking. The evidence to date does not support adverse effects of sweetness on diet quality or energy intake, except where sweet food choices increase intake of free sugars. There is some evidence for improvements in diet quality and reduced energy intake where sweetness without calories replaces sweetness with calories. There is a need to understand the physiological and metabolic relevance of sweet taste receptors on the tongue, in the gut and elsewhere in the body, as well as possible differentiation in the effects of sustained consumption of individual sweeteners. Despite a plethora of studies, there is no consistent evidence for an association of sweetness sensitivity/preference with obesity or type 2 diabetes. A multifaceted integrated approach, characterising nutritive and sensory aspects of the whole diet or dietary patterns, may be more valuable in providing contextual insight. The outcomes of the workshop could be used as a scientific basis to inform the expert community and create more useful dialogue among health care professionals.