Source: Time

We all like sweet things, but we should be eating less sugar. Now a study hints that it may be possible to tone down our taste for sugar
A little-discussed factor that can make dieting difficult is the issue of tolerance. Our bodies get used to a certain amount of fat, a certain amount of sugar, or a certain amount of salt. The more we eat, the more that tolerance builds—and that just makes us need more of the stuff in order to “taste” it.

Now a study shows it may be possible to reverse that trend and quiet the demands of a sweet tooth. Other studies have shown that it’s possible to retrain the taste buds to desire less salt — decrease the amount of salt you eat for a while and then the same foods you found acceptable start to taste too salty.

Now, in a small study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that the same training to reduce people’s taste for sugar might be possible. They recruited 29 people who said they regularly drank at least two sugar-sweetened beverages a day and asked them to rate the sweetness of some sweetened puddings and drinks. The scientists then asked half of the people to reduce their sugar by 40% (they could do so by eating or drinking whatever they wanted) and allowed the other half to continue with their regular diets.

After three months, the people in the study, which was funded by the Monell Chemical Senses Center and PepsiCo, went back to eating whatever they wanted to eat for a month. The scientists monitored any changes in their sugar intake by asking the people to rate lightly sweetened puddings and beverages.

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