'No link between perception of sweet tooth and eating'

 There is a perception that our eating would have something to do with 'sweet tooth', a condition in which a person fancy sweet foods. However, it has been found that there is no 'link' between the two, according to a latest research by an Australian university.
The research by a team at Deakin University here has reported the findings online, according to ABC report.

"In general our taste perception has been shown to play a role in the foods that we choose," nutritionist Sara Cicerale whose research focuses on sensory science, said.
"In turn this may lead to an improved nutritional status or a poor nutritional status and affect our risk of developing chronic disease."

For example, it's possible to hypothesise that the more sensitive one is to sweet tastes the less sweet foods one might eat.

Then again, it could work the other way round, says Cicerale, who set out to investigate this question.

We were looking to see if someone is more of a sweet tooth, or consumes more sweet things in general, are they more or less sensitive to sweet tastes?", she said.
Cicerale along with her team got 85 subjects to rate the intensity of sweetness of a sucrose solution.

They then analysed the subjects' self-reported dietary intake over a number of days.
The researchers measured the amount of sugar and sweet foods, other foods including fruit and vegetables as well as carbohydrate, protein, fat and energy intake.
"We found no association between perceived sweetness intensity and sweet food consumption," says Cicerale.

She pointed out the study was limited by a very homogenous group of subjects and that future studies would include a greater range of age, BMI and ethnic background, as well as test the effect of different concentrations of sucrose solutions.

While the origin of the sweet tooth may be unclear, there are some recommendations on how to control it.

"Nothing is easy, but an individual would need to train themselves off sweet foods - get enjoyment from some other activity,"  co-author Associate  Russell Keast, of the University said.

"There will always be the high reward from sweet foods, but it is a case of managing intake of those foods.

[There's] no real way of 'taming', but perhaps try to manage the beast.