NCT03844230

Role of Sweetness in Glucose Regulation

Role of Sweet Taste Signaling in Glucose Regulation

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 80 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Data from several studies show that consuming a diet high in low-calorie sweeteners (LCS), mainly in diet sodas, is linked to the same metabolic disorders as consuming a diet high in added sugars, including an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Sweet taste receptors, once thought to be unique to the mouth, have now been discovered in other parts of the body, including the intestine and the pancreas, where they play a role in blood sugar control. These newly identified receptors provide new avenues to explore how LCS may affect metabolism and health. This project is designed to examine the role of sweet taste signaling, both in the mouth and in the gut, on blood sugar control and how habitual consumption of LCS may affect sweet taste signaling and metabolism in people with obesity.

Detailed description

The overall goal of this research is to assess the role of oral and gut sweetness signaling in postprandial glucose metabolism and to determine how acute and chronic low-calorie sweetener (LCS) consumption may affect this signaling in people with obesity. The aims will determine the independent and combined contributions of pharmacological inhibition (Aim 1) or extra stimulation (Aim 2) of sweet taste signaling in the gut, mouth, or both on hormonal responses to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in two groups of subjects with obesity: habitual and non-habitual LCS consumers. Validated sensory evaluation techniques will also ascertain subjects' taste perception (Aim 3) to test the hypotheses that habitual consumption of LCS blunts perception of sweetness and, in turn, affects postprandial glucose regulation.

Conditions

• Obesity

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Control - Inhibition	Taste and spit up water 10 minutes before drinking a glucose load
OTHER	Experimental I- Inhibition	Taste and spit up water 10 minutes before drinking a glucose load mixed with lactisole
OTHER	Experimental II- Inhibition	Taste and spit up sucralose 10 minutes before drinking a glucose load mixed with lactisole
OTHER	Control- Stimulation	Taste and spit up water 10 minutes before drinking a glucose load
OTHER	Experimental I- Stimulation	Taste and spit up sucralose 10 minutes before drinking a glucose load
OTHER	Experimental II- Stimulation	Drink sucralose 10 minutes before drinking a glucose load
OTHER	Sensory Evaluation	Taste different solutions to evaluate sweet taste preference, suprathreshold intensity and detection threshold

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-04-24
• Primary completion: 2022-11-30
• Completion: 2022-12-31
• First posted: 2019-02-18
• Last updated: 2021-04-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States