Cutting Sweet Foods May Not Reduce Cravings or Improve Health: Study - Video

Think cutting sweets will kill your sweet tooth? Your taste buds may not be taking notes.

A new six-month trial suggests that simply eating fewer sweet-tasting foods may not reduce people’s love of sweetness-or improve several health markers linked to diabetes and heart disease.

Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study was conducted by researchers from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands and Bournemouth University in the UK. The team followed 180 participants, dividing them into three groups based on the amount of sweet-tasting food in their diets: high, low, or average.

The sweetness came from different sources, including sugar, naturally sweet foods and low-calorie sweeteners. That distinction is important because sweetness does not automatically mean poor nutrition. Fresh fruit, for example, tastes sweet while also providing fiber, vitamins and other beneficial nutrients.

Participants were assessed after one, three and six months. Researchers measured their liking and perception of sweetness, while also tracking body weight and collecting blood and urine samples to assess markers related to metabolic and cardiovascular health.

After six months, researchers found no significant differences between the three groups. People eating more sweet-tasting foods did not appear to develop a stronger preference for sweetness, while those consuming fewer sweet foods did not lose their sweet tooth.

Participants also tended to return to their previous levels of sweet-food consumption after the trial ended.

The researchers argue that public health advice should therefore distinguish between sweetness and sugar. A food can taste sweet because of sugar, natural ingredients or low-calorie sweeteners, while some foods that are not particularly sweet may still contain substantial amounts of sugar.

Instead of broadly telling people to avoid sweet-tasting foods, the researchers suggest focusing on added sugar and energy-dense foods, particularly highly processed products rich in sugar, fat or both.

The takeaway? You may not need to fear sweetness itself—but the nutritional package hiding behind it deserves a closer look.

REFERENCE: Eva M Čad, Monica Mars, et al.; The Sweet Tooth Trial: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Effects of A 6-Month Low, Regular, or High Dietary Sweet Taste Exposure on Sweet Taste Liking, and Various Outcomes Related to Food Intake and Weight Status. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2026; 123 (1): 101073 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.09.041