Sensory Evaluation of Sweet Taste and Daily Sugar Intake in Normoglycemic Individuals with and without Family History of Type 2 Diabetes: A Comparative Cross-sectional Study

Previous studies found that diabetics patients were less sensitive towards sweet taste compared to healthy subjects. However, studies examining taste sensitivity in healthy relatives of diabetics were still limited. Taste threshold and preference were reported to play a role in determining food intake and thus might play a role in the development of diabetes. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the differences in sweet taste threshold and preference between healthy relatives of diabetics compared to individuals without any family history of diabetes. Total sugar and added sugar intake of the subjects were also examined. Forty-seven individuals with family history of type 2 diabetes (W-FHD) and 66 individuals without family history of type 2 diabetes (WO-FHD) underwent sucrose threshold test using 3-Alternative Forced Choice method and sweet taste hedonic test using sugar-sweetened tea samples. Three days twenty-four-hours (24hours) diet recall interviews were also performed in order to determine total sugar intake including added sugar intake (g/day). Result showed that although W-FHD has slightly lower sucrose threshold compared to WO-FHD, this difference was not significant. Both groups rated tea with 8% sucrose as the most pleasant, with W-FHD gave a slightly higher hedonic score. Investigation to their sugar consumption habit showed that both groups had a higher than recommended total sugar intake, and no statistical significant difference was observed between the two groups. Added sugar intake was significantly lowest in W-FHD1 (subjects with first degree family history of diabetes) compared to the other groups, suggesting that having family history of diabetes, especially close relatives (first degree), might increase awareness about the risk of diabetes and hence promote lifestyle changes. Based on this study, it could be concluded that family history of diabetes was not related with differences in sensitivity and preference towards sweet taste. Furthermore, daily sugar intake between groups with and without diabetes relatives were also not significantly different though less amount of daily added sugar intake was observed in subjects with first degree family history of diabetes.