Adherence
Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with unsweetened beverages (USBs) reduces sweet taste preference (threshold and favorite concentration) more effectively than replacing them with artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs).
If your goal is to reduce your craving for sweet tastes, switching from sugary drinks to water is more effective than switching to diet soda. Over a year, water drinkers significantly lowered their preference for sweetness, while diet soda drinkers did not change their threshold for what tastes sweet.
Both sweetness threshold (–1.0±0.2% m/v; P=0.005) and favorite concentration (–2.3±0.4% m/v; P<0.0001) decreased in the USB group; neither changed in the SSB group. In the ASB group, sweetness threshold did not change, and favorite concentration decreased (–1.1±0.5% m/v; P=0.02).
Why this rating
RCT design with specific, objective measurement of taste preference using sucrose solutions.
Source
Effects of Sugar‐Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Beverages on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Body Composition, and Sweet Taste Preference: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Cara B. Ebbeling et al. · Journal of the American Heart Association · 2020
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