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An exploratory study of sweetness preference for habitual sugar and non-nutritive sweetener consumers revealed by explicit and implicit measures
The relationship between hunger, satiety, and responses to sweetness has important implications for understanding dietary behaviors. This research examined how these states impact affective, hedonic, and physiological reactions to sweetness-matched solutions among frequent consumers of both sugar and non-nutritive sweeteners. Through rigorous testing, three iso-sweet stimuli (full-sucrose, half-sucrose, and zero-sucrose) were validated against a 6% sucrose reference using time-intensity and triangle tests.
The study involved 15 participants per group who rated the solutions under conditions of hunger and satiety. Explicit measures such as hedonic scales, self-assessment manikins, and the EsSense profile were utilized alongside implicit physiological data obtained through electrocardiogram and functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
Results indicated that hunger significantly increased liking for sweet solutions in both participant groups, with no preference for caloric sugar over noncaloric options. Emotional profiles shifted from ‘mild/bored‘ to ‘joyful/interested/satisfied,’ accompanied by shorter R-R intervals and higher heart rates. This suggests heightened physiological arousal associated with hunger, although there were no notable changes in high-frequency power or root mean square of successive differences.
Interestingly, habitual consumption of non-nutritive sweeteners did not affect self-reported liking or autonomic responses during blind tasting. However, participants in the non-sugar group exhibited significantly greater increases in oxygenated hemoglobin in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, indicating enhanced cognitive control during sweet-taste evaluation. Overall, these findings emphasize that the perception of sweetness, rather than its caloric value, drives the increase in immediate liking and physiological arousal related to hunger. The study also suggests that non-nutritive sweeteners may serve as a sensory substitute, fulfilling hedonic rather than nutritional needs. [NPID: Hedonic, perception, sweetener, hunger, satiety]
Year: 2026
