Adherence
Adding culinary spices to high-sugar foods (e.g., apple crisp) can preserve hedonic liking and consumption levels despite a significant reduction (up to 37%) in added sugar, effectively substituting sweetness with complex flavor profiles.
If you want to cut sugar in desserts like apple crisp or baked goods, don't just remove the sugar; add spices like cinnamon, ginger, or vanilla. This study shows that for high-sugar foods, spices can mask the loss of sweetness and keep the taste just as good as the full-sugar version. However, this trick doesn't work well for simple foods like tea or plain oatmeal, where sweetness is the main flavor. Focus on complex, sugary foods when using this strategy.
These results indicate that it is possible to preserve the hedonic pleasure of a reduced sugar version of a dessert food, apple crisp, by addition of culinary spices. This may be a promising strategy to reduce sugar in some foods without using low calorie sweeteners.
Why this rating
Two randomized, controlled, within-subjects crossover studies with large sample sizes (N=160, N=150) and rigorous statistical analysis.
Source
The Influence of Adding Spices to Reduced Sugar Foods on Overall Liking
John C. Peters et al. · Journal of Food Science · 2018
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