First off, let’s get one thing straight: we aren’t out to demonize sugar – or any other sweeteners, for that matter. Some of our favorite foods are zhuzhed up with extra sweet stuff, and we wholeheartedly believe that there’s room for just about any treat as part of a balanced and healthy relationship with food. 

All of us start out with a sweet tooth: babies come into the world craving sweetness, and seek out that taste above all others for the first two years of their lives. In fact, you could say that loving sweet tastes is a human survival impulse. Our bodies need sugar to perform a variety of functions, so it’s normal and natural to experience cravings for sweet things – and it’s not a crime to indulge them! 

But we do think it’s worth investigating just how those cravings work. It turns out that what we perceive as “sweet” is more subjective than many people think.

We should also remind you that we are enormous fans of fruits and vegetables. We think they’re just great. They’re loaded with nutrients our bodies need to thrive. They’ve got fiber to keep our guts purring along happily. They’re colorful and frankly, nice to look at. And for the purposes of this article, there is nothing better – in our humble opinion as a fruit- and veggie-obsessed brand – than that first sweet, juicy bite into your favorite variety of produce.

But we also recognize that after dinner, few of us are likely to reach for a peach instead of a cookie or chocolate bar. We love our treats. And amidst the sugary neon glow that illuminates the modern food landscape, that humble bowl of strawberries can look more like something to choke down than truly savor.

The case for real sweetness

Even if you’re a fruit and/or veggie skeptic, chances are there’s been a time or two when you genuinely enjoyed snacking on produce. 

But that’s the thing – moments of fruit or veggie appreciation probably are highly context-driven. Perhaps after a long summer hike, you returned home to a fridge full of ripe Rainier cherries, and while still sweating buckets, started snacking on them while resting on the porch with a friend, laughing while spitting the pits into the garden.

Compare that to a time you dug into a packet of cherry-flavored gummy candies. No stems. No pits. No hassles. Just rip open the package and let the rush of delicious sweetness wash over you. Maybe while you’re in the car commuting home. Or while watching TV. Or while waiting to pick up your kid after soccer practice. The point is, this kind of sweetness comes easy, and always hits the same.

And there’s definitely a place for it in our daily lives! But we also think there’s plenty of reason to take the time to savor real sweetness, even if there’s a tiny bit of additional effort required. We aren’t going to sit here and tell you that cutting up a mango is particularly fun. But we will say that once you’ve gotten that part out of the way, YEE-HAW, there’s nothing that tastes more pulpy and perfect, syrupy and satisfying.

However, if you’re reading this evocative description of eating a mango and responding with a blank shrug, allow us to go Good Will Hunting mode on you for a minute: it’s not your fault.

Life just keeps getting sweeter

Though it’s difficult to peg down exact figures, most research into American per-capita sugar consumption over time points to it steadily increasing from the mid-1960s until the early 2000s, per USDA data. The sources of that sugar have changed over the years, as well. In the 1960s, nearly all of a person’s regular sugar consumption came from cane or beet sources, then gradually, that amount declined, in conjunction with the rise in popularity of high fructose corn syrup.

Some research suggests that the overall quantity of sugar Americans consume has begun to come back down, but that’s likely due to the rising prevalence of “non-nutritive” – more commonly called artificial – sweeteners.

And as far as perception of sweetness goes, eating less sugar but more highly flavorful sugar alternatives doesn’t necessarily make our palates more discerning.

Is it all refined sugar’s fault? That’s less clear

On the average westerner’s sweetness scale, fruits and particularly vegetables probably don’t clock too highly. Not when there are desserts out there that are basically multiple desserts crammed into one – chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream exists… and it is delightful.

Plenty of studies out there have correlated higher overall energy intakes with increased added sugar consumption. But what these studies all point to is something we all probably know intuitively – sugar cravings are a real thing!

Other studies have found that people who cut out added sugar for a period of time found themselves desiring sugar less. But there isn’t exactly an established protocol for how to best approach this, should your goal be to tame your sweet tooth.

And that’s because there are just too many factors at play that cause our mouths to salivate at the sight or smell of a freshly baked pie. Additionally, just because sweets may be perceived as more sweet after decreasing our intake of added sugar, that doesn’t necessarily mean we would want sweets any less. 

Here’s what we do know, with a bit more certainty about the whole “which came first, the added sugar or the cravings?” riddle.

When it comes to sweetness, it’s complicated… and somewhat subjective

Nip it in the bud?

There is some interesting scientific information out there, but ultimately this is an area of study that scientists haven’t historically looked too closely into. (There’s more research actively being conducted, however, and we are eagerly awaiting the sharing of those findings!) 

Here’s what we do have, currently. In one study, 33 healthy subjects were split into two groups. One group followed a 40% reduced simple sugar diet, replacing those would-be sugar calories with proteins, fats, and complex carbohydrates. The second group did not change their sugar intake at all. Each month both groups rated the perceived sweetness intensity and pleasantness of vanilla puddings and raspberry drinks that contained varying amounts of sucrose. At the end of the third month, the low-sugar group rated both low and high sugar puddings 40% sweeter than the control group. Though more evidence is needed, this study does suggest that decreased consumption of added sugar over time can influence how intensity of sweetness is perceived. 

There’s also some evidence suggesting that because so much of the food available to us is loaded with added sugar or enhanced using high-intensity sweeteners – like saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, stevia extract, and monk fruit extract – which are many times sweeter than traditional sugar, our taste receptors for sweetness become “downregulated.” 

These studies only look at perceived taste. Which means there are obvious limitations to their value. Perception is inherently subjective, after all.

What we can speak more confidently about are habit loops and hormones.

Hormones happen

Pleasant habits cause our bodies to create dopamine, the pleasure hormone. If consuming sugar has become an enjoyable habit, dopamine will be released, and the more this habit is done, the more the habit is strengthened by virtue of the positive chemical signals being associated with it by our brains. 

To dig a bit further into what is going on behind the scenes when this happens, when sugar is consumed, the pancreas releases insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. That increase in insulin in the brain triggers dopamine release. So the hormones that are reinforcing the habit loop (trigger, habit, reward) can make changes to it feel extremely difficult. 

Then there’s serotonin. While dopamine is our pleasure and short-term reward hormone, serotonin is our longer-term happiness hormone and is associated with extended periods of emotional wellbeing. There are several factors that can negatively impact our serotonin levels, such as stress, lack of physical activity, genetics, and more. 

But more relevant to our discussion here, is that carbohydrates (and sugar is a carb!) play a role in serotonin production. When serotonin levels are low, this can result in cravings as a strategy to produce more serotonin levels.

Also known as the hunger hormone, ghrelin is released when we are tired. Whenever we don't get enough sleep, it can result in increased amounts of ghrelin in our systems, which can leave us feeling the urgency for food, because ghrelin is also the hormone associated with hunger. Cue a sweet treat!

I still eat plenty of plants. What’s the big deal if I like them?

When you truly love fruits and veggies, because they taste so good to you, chances are you eat even more of them. And that’s wonderful! 

See, the thing about five-a-day (the consensus threshold for minimum daily produce consumption that doctors, researchers, and nutritionists agree contributes to better health) is that the benefits keep on building beyond those five servings.

So basically: eating five servings of fruits and veggies = good. But eating more than five servings of fruits and vegetables = even better.

On the flipside, even if you’re eating enough fruits and veggies, unless you’re truly enjoying every bite, you’re missing out on what’s – in our estimation – the best part about eating fruits and veggies: the impossibly wide, indescribably delicious range of flavors, textures, and even mouth-feels they offer us.

How to retrain your tongue

Remember, we aren’t anti-sugar or anti-artificial sweetener over here! But there are valid reasons for wishing to lower your daily sugar or sweetener intake. If you’re interested in better appreciating your former favorite fruit, or simply want to pour one or two fewer Splendas into your morning coffee, here are a few handy, registered dietitian-approved suggestions.

• Reduce the amount of added sweeteners and sugars in your overall routine. That doesn’t mean quitting sweets cold turkey, though! Take a look at your current routine and see if there is room for adjustment. If you add two tablespoons of brown sugar to your oatmeal, try using just one instead! If you like to bake, you’ll find that most cookie & brownie recipes still taste great with 25% less sugar. Over time your perception of sweetness can adjust and you’ll wind up appreciating the decreased amount the same as the old quantity.

• When seeking to try to replace some of your sweet treats with less sugary alternatives, opt for substitutions with similar qualities! Take ice cream for an example. If you eat a bowl of it a few nights a week, try swapping it out once or twice for a similar flavored yogurt – we like to freeze our favorite store-bought yogurt. Both of these treats have similar textures, so you’ll be more likely to be satisfied than if trying to swap ice cream for something completely different, such as a piece of fruit. (Although you can certainly work your way up to that.)

• And speaking of… Enjoy natural sweets such as fruit! Often people want to replace candy with fruit and find they are unsatisfied, this is because these are two very different items with different textures and flavor profiles. When incorporating fruit into your routine, let it be just that: fruit!