Development of Sweet Taste Perception: Implications for Artificial Sweetener Use

Humans have an innate liking for sweetness, which may have an evolutionary basis. Sweetness typically signals the presence of calories and nutrients and thus, universal liking for sweet taste once served to support survival. In the modern food supply, however, sweetness is often delivered via added sugars and sweeteners devoid of other beneficial nutrients. Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) provide sweetness with no or few calories, and therefore may offer a potential strategy to maintain food and beverage palatability, while reducing the caloric content. Despite marked increases in NNS use, their metabolic and health effects are not well-characterized, and particularly little is known about their effects when exposure starts early in life. Herein, we critically review existing data on NNS exposure in utero, during lactation, and throughout childhood and adolescence with respect to taste preferences, weight trajectory, and development of chronic disease. We specifically focus on potential mechanisms through which sweetness exposure during early development may affect key metabolic outcomes.