Research

Adherence

Sustained ad libitum consumption of an ultra-processed diet for two weeks does not significantly alter sweet or salty taste detection thresholds or preferences compared to an unprocessed diet.

Eating ultra-processed foods for two weeks does not change your basic ability to taste salt or sugar, nor does it change what you prefer. If you are overeating on these foods, look at factors like eating speed or energy density rather than assuming your taste buds have adapted.

ModerateRefutesMEDIUM confidence
No significant differences were observed in participant salt and sweet detection thresholds or preferences after 2 weeks on ultra-processed or unprocessed diets.
Rosario B. Jaime-Lara et al. · Chemical Senses · 2023

Why this rating

Randomized controlled crossover design with controlled inpatient feeding, but small sample size (N=20) and exploratory nature.

Source

No significant salt or sweet taste preference or sensitivity differences following ad libitum consumption of ultra-processed and unprocessed diets: a randomized controlled pilot study

Rosario B. Jaime-Lara et al. · Chemical Senses · 2023

DOI 10.1093/chemse/bjad007

crossover · n=20Cited 9×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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