School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2024 Jun;48(6):764-777. doi: 10.1038/s41366-024-01494-7. Epub 2024 Mar 11.
Legislation aimed at reducing sugar intake assumes that sweet-liking drives overconsumption. However, evidence that a greater liking for sweet taste is associated with unhealthier body size is mixed and complicated by relatively small samples, an overreliance on body mass index (BMI) and lack of classification using sweet-liking phenotypes.
We first examined body size data in two larger samples with sweet-liking phenotyping: extreme sweet-likers, moderate sweet-likers and sweet-dislikers. Adults (18-34yrs), attended a two-session lab-based experiment involving phenotyping for sweet-liking status and a bioelectrical impedance body composition measurement (Experiment One: N = 200; Experiment Two: N = 314). Secondly, we conducted an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis: systematic searches across four databases identified 5736 potential articles. Of these, 53 papers met our search criteria: a taste assessment that measured liking using sucrose (>13.7% w/v), which allowed sweet-liking phenotyping and included either BMI, body fat percentage (BF%), fat-free mass (FFM) or waist-circumference.
A significant effect of sweet-liking phenotype on FFM was found in both Experiment One and Two, with extreme sweet-likers having significantly higher FFM than sweet-dislikers. In Experiment One, sweet-dislikers had a significantly higher BF% than extreme sweet-likers and moderate sweet-likers. However, as these data are from one research group in a young, predominantly westernised population, and the results did not perfectly replicate, we conducted the IPD meta-analyses to further clarify the findings. Robust one-stage IPD meta-analyses of 15 studies controlling for sex revealed no significant differences in BF% (n = 1836) or waist-circumference (n = 706). For BMI (n = 2368), moderate sweet-likers had slightly lower BMI than extreme sweet-likers, who had the highest overall BMI. Most interestingly, for FFM (n = 768), moderate sweet-likers and sweet-dislikers showed significantly lower FFM than extreme sweet-likers.
The higher BMI often seen in sweet-likers may be due to a larger FFM and questions the simple model where sweet liking alone is a risk factor for obesity.
旨在减少糖摄入量的立法假设是，对甜味的喜爱会导致过度消费。然而，有证据表明，对甜味的喜爱与更不健康的体型有关，但证据相互矛盾且较为复杂，这是因为样本相对较小，过度依赖体重指数（BMI），并且缺乏对甜味喜好表型的分类。
我们首先使用甜味喜好表型检查了两个更大样本中的体型数据：极度嗜甜者、中度嗜甜者和不喜甜者。18-34 岁的成年人参加了一个基于实验室的双次实验，涉及甜味喜好状态的表型和生物电阻抗身体成分测量（实验一：N=200；实验二：N=314）。其次，我们进行了个体参与者数据（IPD）荟萃分析：系统地在四个数据库中进行了搜索，确定了 5736 篇潜在文章。其中，53 篇论文符合我们的搜索标准：使用蔗糖（>13.7% w/v）测量的味觉评估，允许进行甜味喜好表型分析，并包括 BMI、体脂肪百分比（BF%）、无脂肪质量（FFM）或腰围。
在实验一和实验二中都发现甜味喜好表型对 FFM 有显著影响，极度嗜甜者的 FFM 明显高于不喜甜者。在实验一中，不喜甜者的 BF%明显高于极度嗜甜者和中度嗜甜者。然而，由于这些数据来自一个年轻、以西方为主的人群中的一个研究小组，并且结果没有完全复制，我们进行了 IPD 荟萃分析以进一步阐明研究结果。对 15 项研究进行稳健的单阶段 IPD 荟萃分析，控制性别因素后，BF%（n=1836）或腰围（n=706）无显著差异。对于 BMI（n=2368），中度嗜甜者的 BMI 略低于极度嗜甜者，而极度嗜甜者的 BMI 总体最高。最有趣的是，对于 FFM（n=768），中度嗜甜者和不喜甜者的 FFM 明显低于极度嗜甜者。
甜味爱好者中常见的更高 BMI 可能是由于更大的 FFM 所致，这对甜味喜好本身是肥胖风险因素的简单模型提出了质疑。
