Individual Differences Among Children in Sucrose Detection Thresholds: Relationship With Age, Gender, and Bitter Taste Genotype

Paule Valery Joseph, Danielle R Reed, Julie A Mennella, Paule Valery Joseph, Danielle R Reed, Julie A Mennella

Abstract

Background: Little research has focused on whether there are individual differences among children in their sensitivity to sweet taste and, if so, the biological correlates of such differences.

Objectives: Our goal was to understand how variations in children's sucrose detection thresholds relate to their age and gender, taste genotype, body composition, and dietary intake of added sugars.

Methods: Sucrose detection thresholds in 7- to 14-year-old children were tested individually using a validated, two-alternative, forced-choice, paired-comparison tracking method. Five genetic variants of taste genes were assayed: TAS1R3 and GNAT3 (sweet genes; one variant each) and the bitter receptor gene TAS2R38 (three variants). All children were measured for body weight and height. A subset of these children were measured for the percentage of body fat and waist circumference and provided added sugar intake by 24-hour dietary recall.

Results: Sucrose thresholds ranged from 0.23 to 153.8 mM with most of the children completing the threshold task (216/235; 92%). Some children were biologically related (i.e., siblings), and for the genetic analysis, one sibling from each family was studied. Variants in the bitter but not the sweet genes were related to sucrose threshold and sugar intake; children with two bitter-sensitive alleles could detect sucrose at lower concentrations (F(2,165) = 4.55, p = .01; rs1726866) and reported eating more added sugar (% kcal; F(2, 62) = 3.64, p = .03) than did children with less sensitive alleles. Age, gender, and indices of obesity also were related to child-to-child differences in sucrose threshold; girls were more sensitive than boys (t(214) = 2.0, p = .05), older children were more sensitive than younger children (r(214) = -.16, p = .02), and fatter (r(84) = -.22, p = .05) or more centrally obese children (r(84) = -.26, p = .02) were more sensitive relative to others.

Discussion: Inborn differences in bitter sensitivity may affect childhood dietary sugar intake with long-term health consequences. There may be a more complex interplay between the developing bitter and sweet taste systems than previously understood.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The tracking grid used in the paired comparison method to determine sucrose detection thresholds. The order of presentation of pairs of solutions was determined at random (presentation order 1 signifies water is presented first within that particular pair, whereas 2 signifies the solution with a tastant [sucrose] is presented first within that particular pair). Testing began at Step 10, which corresponded to a concentration of 3.2 mM sucrose. Participants were presented with a pair of solutions, asked to taste each solution following the test protocol, and to point to the solution that had a taste. The tracking grid was used to record whether a participant correctly (+) or incorrectly (−) identified the solution with a taste; the concentration of the tastant in the solution presented in the subsequent pair was increased after a single incorrect response and decreased after two consecutive correct responses. Testing continued until the participant attained four reversals in performance (circled and marked with arrows to indicate the direction of reversal); a participant’s threshold for a tastant was calculated as the mean of the log values of the last four reversals. In this example, the participant’s molar concentrations for each reversal were 10, 3.2, 5.6, and 1.8 mM. Thus, the calculation is [((−2.00) + (−2.49) + (−2.25) + (−2.74)/4)] = −2.37. We computed the antilog, which is ~4.2 mM.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Box plots of sucrose detection threshold by genotype group (median, upper and lower quartile, and minimum and maximum values). For each variant, groups that differ significantly by post hoc testing do not share a superscript.
Figure
Figure
No caption available.

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