(PO08-20-22) Evidence Map on the Relationship Between Dietary Sweetness Exposure and Body Weight-Related Outcomes in Adults

The ePoster content is available to NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE attendees who are logged in.<br><br>If you are registered, log in and then come back here to use this button.

Presenting Author(s)

Kelly A. Higgins, PhD, MPH
– Research Nutritionist, USDA, ARS, BHNRC, Food Components and Health Lab, Beltsville, Maryland, United States

Co-Author(s)

RR

Rita Rawal, PhD RD
– USDA Agricultural Research Service
DB

David J. Baer, PhD
– Supervisory Research Physiologist, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland, United States
LO

Lauren E. O'Connor, PhD, MPH
– Research Nutritionist, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, ARS, USDA, Beltsville, Maryland, United States
Katherine Appleton, PhD
– Professor of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, England, United Kingdom

Disclosure(s):

Kelly A. Higgins, PhD, MPH: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Lauren E. O'Connor, PhD, MPH: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: An evidence map was conducted to characterize published research investigating dietary sweetness and body weight. The primary aim was to identify studies that investigate total dietary sweetness and body weight-related outcomes among healthy adults; the secondary aim was to map the evidence that investigates sugar, sweetener, or sweet food/beverage intake and body weight.

Methods: Using pre-registered search terms (https://osf.io/my7pb), 33,609 publications (duplicates removed) from PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Scopus were screened for inclusion. Eligible studies were cross-sectional studies, longitudinal cohort studies, case control studies, clinical trials, and systematic reviews conducted among adults (≥18 years) which investigated the associations between total dietary sweetness, sugar, sweetener (energetic or nonenergetic), or sweet food/beverage intake on body weight, body mass index, adiposity, and energy intake.

Results: A total of 824 eligible publications were identified. Two clinical trials and 5 cross-sectional studies investigated the associations between total dietary sweetness and a body weight-related outcome. An additional 630 publications were identified that investigated sugar, sweetener, or sweet food/beverage intake and body weight-related outcomes, including 225 clinical trials, 87 longitudinal cohort studies, and 298 cross-sectional studies. Ninety publications reported on dietary patterns that included sweet foods/beverages alongside other dietary components. Most studies (91%) did not measure the sweetness of the diet or individual foods consumed. Additionally, 97 systematic reviews that addressed relevant but different research questions related to sweetness exposure and body weight-related outcomes were identified.

Conclusions: While there is a breadth of evidence available from studies that investigate sugar, sweetener, and sweet food/beverage intake and body weight, there is limited evidence on the association between total dietary sweetness exposure and body weight.

Funding Sources: USDA Agricultural Research Service, Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences