Sweetness and Food Preference in Children – Challenges and Opportunities

Children’s sugar consumption falls above current recommendations, highlighting the need to identify strategies that can successfully promote a new approach to sugar reduction.

Putting aside the premise of avoiding changes in the sensory characteristics of products and focusing on reducing both sugar content and sweetness intensity. Children shape their preferences through experience. Exposure to high sweet food has been associated with higher preference for sweetness. In contrast, gradual sugar reduction intends to shift children's sweetness preference rather than maintaining current behaviour, which may have a long-lasting impact on dietary patterns and health outcomes. The major contribution of processed products to children's sugar intake suggests that product reformulation is one of the cost-effective strategies that can be implemented to reduce sugar intake at the population level.

Research shows that significant sugar reduction is feasible in products targeted at children without affecting hedonic perception, even if sweetness is reduced. The presentation discusses the role of the food industry in contributing to children's excessive sugar intake worldwide, and the strategies that have been encouraged or implemented to reduce the sugar content in products targeted at children.