Maybe you are aware of this Added sugar It’s not good for your health, and maybe try cutting back as a result. But in reality, cutting down on sugary foods is easier said than done, especially if you have a sweet tooth. There’s a popular trick that suggests eating fewer sweet foods in your diet will make you crave less sugar, but new research suggests that’s not actually true.
In fact, the study published in American Journal of Clinical NutritionI found that your love for sweets is what it is. “Our love of sweet taste seems to be very stable, at least in adulthood.” Catherine Appleton, Ph.Dsays study co-author and professor of psychology at Bournemouth University.
The results could be telling for people who have tried and failed to curb their sweet cravings. But nutrition experts say you shouldn’t give up if you fall into this camp. This is why.
Put your sweet tooth to the test
For the study, researchers divided 180 people into three groups and exposed them to different levels of sweetness from sugar, naturally sweet foods, and desserts. Low-calorie sweeteners. One group ate a diet rich in sweet-tasting foods for six months. Another followed a low-sweet diet. The third group ate foods with a moderate level of sweetness.
The researchers examined the participants to see if their preference for sweet foods changed in the first, third and sixth months. The researchers also tracked the participants’ weight and took blood and urine samples to look for changes in diabetes risk, as well as to check their cardiovascular health.
After six months, the researchers found no significant differences between any of the groups in terms of their health. Here’s the interesting thing: Participants also returned to their original sweetness preferences. So, if they ate a lot of sweet foods before the study, they did the same after the study ended.
“These findings do not support public health advice to reduce exposure to sweet-tasting foods,” the researchers wrote in conclusion.
Why doesn’t cutting down on sweets reduce cravings?
The study didn’t delve into that, but there are likely some factors at play here. It all boils down to the fact that sweet cravings can be complicated.
“We need to look for the root cause of food cravings,” Lamees Lahham, R.D., a registered dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF. “Often, it’s a matter of not fueling your body properly throughout the day, so your body craves quick energy that comes in the form of sweets.”
