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CUTTING SUGAR DOES NOT DIMINISH DESIRE




If you’ve ever tried to ditch sweets to “reset” your cravings, you might want to rethink that strategy. New research shows that eating more or less sweet-tasting foods doesn’t actually change how much you like sweetness—or affect your weight or how much you eat overall.

A rigorous six-month randomized trial, presented at NUTRITION 2025 by scientists from Wageningen University, assigned 180 adults to diets with different levels of sweetness: high, low, or somewhere in between. The researchers provided about half of each participant’s meals and drinks—anything from jam and milk chocolate to salted popcorn and sparkling water—so they could carefully control how much sweetness people were exposed to.

The big surprise? No matter how much (or little) sweet food people ate, their preference for sweet flavors stayed the same. Body weight, energy intake, and health markers like blood sugar and cholesterol didn’t budge either. Even after the study, participants naturally went back to their usual sweet intake within a few months.

Lead researcher Professor Kees de Graaf summed it up: “Our study shows that sweetness alone isn’t to blame for overeating.” That means cutting out sweets probably won’t magically curb your cravings—or help you lose weight—if the rest of your habits stay the same.

The takeaway: If you’ve been avoiding the foods you love, hoping to change your taste buds, you can stop stressing. Instead of depriving yourself, focus on creating balanced, sustainable habits that support your health goals.

Ready for a more innovative, more enjoyable approach to nutrition? Work with a ProTime-Fitness health coach to improve your diet—without giving up the foods you love. Learn more at ProTime-Fitness.org.

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