The Reinforcing Value of Added Sugars

Diet Study: The Reinforcing Value of Added Sugars

The purpose of this study is to determine how daily diet relates to eating choices.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Obesity
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Low Added Sugar Diet

Detailed Description

Despite the long-term emphasis on reducing intake of and added sugar, this behavioral change has been hard to instill amongst most of the population. Foods with added sugars are highly reinforcing and, as such, reducing their consumption in order to adhere to the dietary guidelines (DGA) may be difficult to maintain. Sugar produces effects similar to some drugs of abuse such as increased extracellular dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens shell resulting in a reinforcing effect. Reducing any reinforcing behavior can be challenging, but in terms of food, it is not known whether the reinforcing value of foods high in added sugar increases when access to these foods is reduced. If so, this would present a mechanistic barrier to meeting the DGA and making dietary changes in general. That the reinforcing value of a behavior (e.g., eating sugar) will be increased when the rate of that behavior is decreased has strong theoretical underpinnings in the "Disequilibrium Approach". This theory predicts that the circumstances of reinforcement are created or limited by changing baseline access. According to the Disequilibrium Approach, a response deficit will result in an increase in reinforcement. Applied to the proposed study, the Disequilibrium Approach would predict that lowering the consumption of dietary added sugar would increase the reinforcing value of foods high in added sugar. The Disequilibrium Approach has accurately predicted an increase in the relative reinforcing value (RRV) of snack foods among children. However, dietary changes would need to occur at the whole diet level for adults and children to meet the DGA for reducing added sugar intake. It is important to know if reducing added sugars at the whole-diet level results in increases in the reinforcing value of foods high in added sugars.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 44
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Dakota
    • Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States, 58203
      • USDA Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 39 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• BMI within 18.5-24.9 kg/m2 or BMI within 30.0-50.0 kg/m2
• Willing to consent to study conditions
• Habitually consume at least 10% of daily energy intake from added sugars

Exclusion Criteria:

• BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m2
• Currently taking drugs that change hunger
• Have an eating disorder
• Current tobacco user
• Have diabetes or heart disease
• Pregnant, lactating or planning pregnancy
• Low liking of all available study test foods
• Allergy/aversion to any of the foods provided during the diet intervention

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Low Added Sugar Diet; Menu containing <10% of total daily energy intake from added sugars.	Other: Low Added Sugar Diet; 1-week intake of Low Added Sugar Diet 3 day rotating menu

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in relative reinforcing value (RRV) of snacks as assessed by indicator	RRV of snacks will be assessed by evaluating the number of responses (mouse button presses) a subject is willing to complete to gain access to a high added sugar snack or low added sugar alternative.	Baseline and 1 week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: USDA Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Flack KD, Ufholz K, Casperson S, Jahns L, Johnson L, Roemmich JN. Decreasing the Consumption of Foods with Sugar Increases Their Reinforcing Value: A Potential Barrier for Dietary Behavior Change. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2019 Jul;119(7):1099-1108. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2018.12.016. Epub 2019 Apr 6.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 16, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): January 16, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 15, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): April 19, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 2, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 18, 2022
• Last Verified: January 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: GFHNRC148

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO