No harm in trying?
According to a study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that, much the same as you can do with salt, the same training to reduce people’s taste for sugar might be possible.
For the study, the scientists recruited 29 people who admitted 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 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.
What they found is interesting, with the people who lowered the amount of sugar they ate during the study consistently reporting that the puddings and drinks with little sugar tasted sweeter than did the group that didn’t reduce their sugar consumption.
This, of course, suggests that their taste or tolerance for sugar had changed after eating less of it. Note: The effect was stronger for the puddings than for the drinks, which the researchers say could be related to differences in the way foods and liquids are processed by the body.
We can’t help but think that this might mean that January is possibly so the worst month to start a sugar detox, as we are all HIGH on sugar and all things sweet after the Christmas holidays, no?
Unfortunately, the effect did not last forever when they participants went back to eating what they wanted, with no restrictions as to how much sugar they could consume. It does, however, according to the researchers, “hint” to that it might be possible to train your brain into preferring less sugar, but that more research into this is needed.
