ArticlePhysiology & behavior2012
Altered processing of sweet taste in the brain of diet soda drinkers.
Article in Physiology & behavior, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 151 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of soft drinks and 100% fruit juice consumption with risk of cancer: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2023Pooled it
- Basal ganglia lateralization in different types of reward.Brain imaging and behavior · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Hunger and BMI modulate neural responses to sweet stimuli: fMRI meta-analysis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2020Pooled it
- Sugar and artificially sweetened beverages and risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and all-cause mortality: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.European journal of epidemiology · 2020Pooled it
- A Systematic Review and Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies on Sweet Taste in Humans.The Journal of nutrition · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Basic taste processing recruits bilateral anteroventral and middle dorsal insulae: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of fMRI studies.Brain and behavior · 2017Pooled it
- Impact of aerobic exercises on taste perception for sucrose in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus; A randomized controlled trial.BMC endocrine disorders · 2022Trial
- Obesity and Sex-Related Associations With Differential Effects of Sucralose vs Sucrose on Appetite and Reward Processing: A Randomized Crossover Trial.JAMA network open · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Differential Effects of BMI on Brain Response to Odor in Olfactory, Reward and Memory Regions: Evidence from fMRI.Nutrients · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Frontostriatal and behavioral adaptations to daily sugar-sweetened beverage intake: a randomized controlled trial.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2017Trial
- Effect of replacing sugar with non-caloric sweeteners in beverages on the reward value after repeated exposure.PloS one · 2013Trial
- Expectation Modulates Hedonic Experiences and Midbrain Responses to Sweet Flavor.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- The role of the caudate nucleus in taste function: a comprehensive narrative review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Disrupting the Gut-Brain Axis: How Artificial Sweeteners Rewire Microbiota and Reward Pathways.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Neural Mechanisms and Alterations of Sweet Sensing: Insights from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Association of low-calorie sweetened product consumption and intakes of free sugar and ultra-processed foods in UK children: a national study from 2008 to 2019.European journal of nutrition · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Artificially sweetened beverage consumption has been linked to obesity, and it has been hypothesized that considerable exposure to nonnutritive sweeteners may be associated with impaired energy regulation. The reward system plays an integral role in modulating energy intake, but little is known about whether habitual use of artificial sweetener (i.e., diet soda consumption) may be related to altered reward processing of sweet taste in the brain. To investigate this, we examined fMRI response after a 12-hour fast to sucrose (a nutritive sweetener) and saccharin (a nonnutritive sweetener) during hedonic evaluation in young adult diet soda drinkers and non-diet soda drinkers. Diet soda drinkers demonstrated greater activation to sweet taste in the dopaminergic midbrain (including ventral tegmental area) and right amygdala. Saccharin elicited a greater response in the right orbitofrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 47) relative to sucrose in non-diet soda drinkers. There was no difference in fMRI response to the nutritive or nonnutritive sweetener for diet soda drinkers. Within the diet soda drinkers, fMRI activation of the right caudate head in response to saccharin was negatively associated with the amount of diet sodas consumed per week; individuals who consumed a greater number of diet sodas had reduced caudate head activation. These findings suggest that there are alterations in reward processing of sweet taste in individuals who regularly consume diet soda, and this is associated with the degree of consumption. These findings may provide some insight into the link between diet soda consumption and obesity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.