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> When I was a kid I remember drinking Snapple, now I can't understand how I ever downed that stuff This is because as we grow older, our sweet taste receptors

> When I was a kid I remember drinking Snapple, now I can't understand how I ever downed that stuff This is because as we grow older, our sweet taste receptors become more sensitive [0]. This is a finding from research last year by UIUC. This finding also makes evolutionary sense, as children have higher energy needs due to their growth. A quote from the research post link: “Compared with adults, children and adolescents are less sensitive to the sweet taste and need 40% more sucrose in a solution for them to detect the taste of sugar, a new study found.” [0] https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-sweet-taste-perception-children.html https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-sweet-taste-perceptio...

namanyayg 5y ago
But is this confounded due to the phenomenon mentioned above? i.e. it's due to children consuming more daily sugar vs adults that's causing the difference. Might an obese soda chugging adult have the same sensitivity as a child? Or would a child living in a remote village (i.e. no processed sugar in their diet ever) have the same sensitivity as the children mentioned in this study? It does feel like a large part of the sensitivity is related to how much one normally consumes sugar. I know that since quitting processed sugar even some fruits taste too sweet to eat.
- rajnathani 5y ago
  That is assuming that all children (in the study) consume higher amounts of sugar than the adults. This may not necessarily be the case, at least for more conscious parents of children today. There is also an example case of the US federal government having mandated that school lunches be of high nutritional quality [0]. On a side note: Even as I quit processed sugar, I noticed that fruits taste slightly sweeter than normal. However, the bigger personal observation I've had is that my cravings for sweets has reduced. IMO this likely has to do with less drastic blood sugar swings during the day. [0] https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/news/obama-era-school-nutrition-policy-led-better-diets-students-faces-changes https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/news/obama-era-school...

namanyayg 5y ago

But is this confounded due to the phenomenon mentioned above? i.e. it's due to children consuming more daily sugar vs adults that's causing the difference. Might an obese soda chugging adult have the same sensitivity as a child? Or would a child living in a remote village (i.e. no processed sugar in their diet ever) have the same sensitivity as the children mentioned in this study? It does feel like a large part of the sensitivity is related to how much one normally consumes sugar. I know that since quitting processed sugar even some fruits taste too sweet to eat.

rajnathani 5y ago
That is assuming that all children (in the study) consume higher amounts of sugar than the adults. This may not necessarily be the case, at least for more conscious parents of children today. There is also an example case of the US federal government having mandated that school lunches be of high nutritional quality [0]. On a side note: Even as I quit processed sugar, I noticed that fruits taste slightly sweeter than normal. However, the bigger personal observation I've had is that my cravings for sweets has reduced. IMO this likely has to do with less drastic blood sugar swings during the day. [0] https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/news/obama-era-school-nutrition-policy-led-better-diets-students-faces-changes https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/news/obama-era-school...