<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: left; mso-line-height-alt: 14.0pt; layout-grid-mode: char; mso-layout-grid-align: none;" align="left">Taste of Things to Come: Craving Responses to Ingestion and Mouth Rinse of Sugary Drink in Connection with Food Cues and Associations with Continuous Interstitial Glucose Measurement in a Healthy Population

Background/objectives: Food craving is frequent with high palatable foods containing high levels of sugars and/or fat. Food cues can strongly induce food craving, and heightened food cue reactivity is associated with eating disorders and obesity. Sweet taste signalling is suggested to be an important regulator for appetite and food intake, with sensory-metabolic mismatch potentially relevant for food craving experience. This study investigated the interaction between taste and food cues on food craving in healthy people with and without ingestion of a sugary drink. Methods: Randomised crossover design with 47 healthy individuals performed two experimental trials. Fasted individuals were exposed to food cues with measurement of food craving pre- and post- exposure via a newly validated method using handgrip force as a response modality. This was followed either by ingestion (ingestion trial) or mouth rinse (mouth rinse trial) of a sugary drink and reassessment of food cue craving responses. Continuous interstitial glucose monitoring was performed using a glucose sensor inserted into the upper arm and a blood sample for leptin levels was taken. Results: Strong food craving response to food cues was bound to the fasted state, while ingestion of sugary drink blunted food cue reactivity and reduced craving levels. Mouth rinse induced a stable increase in food craving which showed maximum after food cues. Interstitial glucose levels over the after-trial periods (area under curve, AUC) were significantly higher for the rinse trial day than for the ingestion trial day suggesting higher carbohydrate/sugar intake after the rinse trial, while craving levels were associated with AUC in the rinse trial. Conclusions: Outcomes indicate that taste/flavour in connection with food cues may generate an error signal experienced as food cravings, whereas receipt of sugars, with concomitant physiological responses, reduce the signal and diminish food craving. Results highlight the importance of sensory-metabolic mismatch for food craving experience.