You’re probably aware that added sugar isn’t great for your health, and may have tried to scale back as a result. But actually cutting back on sugary foods is easier said than done, especially if you have a sweet tooth. There’s a common hack that suggests having less sweet foods in your diet will make you crave sugar less, but new research suggests that’s actually not true.
In fact, the study, which was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that your sweet tooth just is what it is. “It seems our liking for sweet taste is very stable, at least in adulthood,” Katherine Appleton, PhD, study co-author and professor of psychology at Bournemouth University, tells SELF.
The findings can feel vindicating for people who have tried to curb cravings for sweets and failed. But dietitians say you shouldn’t give up if you fall into this camp. Here’s why.
Putting the sweet tooth to the test
For the study, researchers divided 180 people into three groups and exposed them to different levels of sweetness from sugar, naturally-sweet foods, and low-calorie sweeteners. One group ate a diet that was high in sweet-tasting foods for six months; Another followed a diet that was low in sweetness. The third group had foods with a moderate level of sweetness.
The researchers checked in on the participants to see if their preference for sweet foods had shifted at one, three, and six months. The researchers also tracked the participants’ weight and took blood and urine samples to look for changes in their risk of developing diabetes, as well as to check on their cardiovascular health.
After six months, the researchers didn’t find any significant differences between any of the groups in terms of their health. Here’s the kicker: The participants also went back to their original sweetness preferences. So, if they ate a lot of sweet foods before the study, they did the same after the study period was over.
“These results do not support public health advice to reduce exposure to sweet-tasting foods,” the researchers wrote in the conclusion.
Why doesn’t cutting back on sweets work to curb cravings?
The study didn’t dive into that, but there are likely a few factors at play here. It all boils down to the fact that cravings for sweets can be complicated.
“We need to dig into the root cause of what’s causing the cravings to begin with,” Lamees Lahham, RD, a dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF. “Often, it’s a matter of not properly fueling throughout the day, so your body craves the quick energy which comes in the form of sweets.”
