ReviewPhysiology & behavior2016
Why do we like sweet taste: A bitter tale?
Review in Physiology & behavior, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 143 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Sweet Tooth Trial: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Effects of A 6-Month Low, Regular, or High Dietary Sweet Taste Exposure on Sweet Taste Liking, and Various Outcomes Related to Food Intake and Weight Status.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Effects of dietary recommendations for reducing free sugar intakes, on free sugar intakes, dietary profiles and anthropometry: a randomised controlled trial.The British journal of nutrition · 2025Trial
- Effects of a six-day, whole-diet sweet taste intervention on pleasantness, desire for and intakes of sweet foods: a randomised controlled trial.The British journal of nutrition · 2025Trial
- Change in liking following reduction in sweetness level of carbonated beverages: a randomized controlled parallel trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Role of sweet and other flavours in liking and disliking of electronic cigarettes.Tobacco control · 2016Trial
- Characterization and Comparison of Dietary Taste Patterns in Five Countries With Differing Obesity Prevalence.Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Why do we seek information about the future? On the origins of subjective value without instrumental value.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Kokumi substances as taste modulators: sensory properties and molecular mechanisms.Chemical senses · 2026Review
- Effect of Miracle Berry on Taste Modification Properties Among Adults Living in Australia: A Multi-Phase Study Protocol.Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Baru Almond Beverage (Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Who Likes Sweets? Sweet Patterns: Influence of Sex, Age, Body Mass Index, Smoking and Olfactory Efficiency on the Consumption of Sweet Products.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Disrupting the Gut-Brain Axis: How Artificial Sweeteners Rewire Microbiota and Reward Pathways.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Bumblebees learn to use antennal and tarsal taste to predict the presence of nectar rewards in flowers.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- The Biologically Active Compounds in Fruits of Cultivated Varieties and Wild Species of Apples.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Dynamic interaction of sweet and sour taste perceptions based on sucrose and citric acid.NPJ science of food · 2025Article
- Integrative transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis reveals the flavor formation mechanism of green bamboo (Food chemistry. Molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Opposing effects of sugar-free claims on perceived healthiness and sweetness reduce consumers' willingness to pay for sugar-free products.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Declining trends in sweetness of the diet in the United Kingdom: 2008/9-2018/19.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- From Sweetness to Mouthfeel: A Review on Overcoming Sensory Barriers in Sugar-Free Beverages.International journal of food science · 2025Review
3 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
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sweet is widely considered to be one of a small number of basic or primary taste qualities. Liking for sweet tasting substances is innate, although postnatal experiences can shape responses. The power of sweet taste to induce consumption and to motivate behavior is profound, suggesting the importance of this sense for many species. Most investigators presume that the ability to identify sweet molecules through the sense of taste evolved to allow organisms to detect sources of readily available glucose from plants. Perhaps the best evidence supporting this presumption are recent discoveries in comparative biology demonstrating that species in the order Carnivora that do not consume plants also do not perceive sweet taste due to the pseudogenization of a component of the primary sweet taste receptor. However, arguing against this idea is the observation that the sweetness of a plant, or the amount of easily metabolizable sugars contained in the plant, provides little quantitative indication of the plant's energy or broadly conceived food value. Here it is suggested that the perceptual ratio of sweet taste to bitter taste (a signal for toxicity) may be a better gauge of a plant's broadly conceived food value than sweetness alone and that it is this ratio that helps guide selection or rejection of a potential plant food.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.