Researchers found that young people have more of a ‘sweet tooth’ than adults, or prefer more intense sweetness.
- It has been observed that young people have a bigger ‘sweet tooth’ than adults
- A study found that children and teens preferred a 50% higher sugar concentration compared to adults
- It may be because younger people may be less sensitive to sugar than adults
Young people seldom say food or drink is “too sweet”. A new study suggests that maybe because they’re less sensitive to sugar than adults and prefer more of it.
Researchers found that compared to adults, kids and teens needed 40% more sugar in a solution to detect sweetness.
The researchers also found that young people have a bigger “sweet tooth” than adults, or prefer more intense sweetness, a finding that echoes previous studies.
Distinct developmental trajectories
The study included almost 500 children, teens and adults. The researchers gave participants sugar-water concoctions with different levels of sugar. They measured how much sugar the participants preferred and the lowest concentration required for them to taste it.
“Both of these dimensions of sweet-taste perception – sensitivity and preference – undergo distinct developmental trajectories from childhood to adulthood,” said study co-author M. Yanina Pepino, an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“However, they did so independently, and we found no association between the two,” she said in a university news release.
Adults could taste a single cube of sugar dissolved in 56 ounces (1 656ml) of water, while younger participants could only taste it in a less-concentrated solution – 40 ounces (1 183ml).
The results were published recently in the journal Nutrients.
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Article by : https://www.health24.com/Diet-and-nutrition/News/sweet-tooth-tendencies-change-as-kids-get-older-20200914
