Sweet Can Kill Pain- But the Child Should Love it
Monell Chemical Senses Center
(Press Release)
___________
Philadephia (US):
It’s no secret that children like sweet-tasting foods and beverages. It’s also known that sweet taste acts as an analgesic in children, reducing their perception of pain.
Now researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report in the current issue of the journal Pain that the analgesic efficacy of sweet taste is influenced both by how much a child likes sweet taste and by the child’s weight status.“Some children like sweets not just because they taste good, but also because sweets make them feel good,” explains senior author Julie Mennella, Ph.D.
“This study further reveals that for children, sweetness’ effectiveness as an analgesic is related to liking for sweet taste and also to weight status.” In the study, sucrose preferences were determined for 198 children, ranging in age from 5 to 10 years, and their mothers. Children as a group preferred higher levels of sweetness than the adults, selecting a favorite sweetness concentration equivalent to adding 11 teaspoons of sugar to an 8-ounce glass of water.
For comparison, an 8-ounce serving of soda contains approximately 6 teaspoons of sugar.There were individual differences across both age groups, with approximately half of the children and one quarter of mothers preferring sucrose concentrations of 24 percent (14 teaspoons per 8-ounce water) or greater.
In normal weight children, palliative properties of the sweet sucrose taste were related to the children’s sweet preferences: sucrose reduced the experience of pain in children with higher sweet taste preferences, but not in children who preferred lower concentrations of sweetness.
However, when the child’s weight status was taken into account, sucrose’s effectiveness as an analgesic was blunted in overweight and at-risk-for-overweight children who preferred higher levels of sweetness.
Dec 17, 2005
Monell Chemical Senses Center(Press Release)
___________
Philadephia (US):
It’s no secret that children like sweet-tasting foods and beverages. It’s also known that sweet taste acts as an analgesic in children, reducing their perception of pain.
Now researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report in the current issue of the journal Pain that the analgesic efficacy of sweet taste is influenced both by how much a child likes sweet taste and by the child’s weight status.“Some children like sweets not just because they taste good, but also because sweets make them feel good,” explains senior author Julie Mennella, Ph.D.
“This study further reveals that for children, sweetness’ effectiveness as an analgesic is related to liking for sweet taste and also to weight status.” In the study, sucrose preferences were determined for 198 children, ranging in age from 5 to 10 years, and their mothers. Children as a group preferred higher levels of sweetness than the adults, selecting a favorite sweetness concentration equivalent to adding 11 teaspoons of sugar to an 8-ounce glass of water.
For comparison, an 8-ounce serving of soda contains approximately 6 teaspoons of sugar.There were individual differences across both age groups, with approximately half of the children and one quarter of mothers preferring sucrose concentrations of 24 percent (14 teaspoons per 8-ounce water) or greater.
In normal weight children, palliative properties of the sweet sucrose taste were related to the children’s sweet preferences: sucrose reduced the experience of pain in children with higher sweet taste preferences, but not in children who preferred lower concentrations of sweetness.
However, when the child’s weight status was taken into account, sucrose’s effectiveness as an analgesic was blunted in overweight and at-risk-for-overweight children who preferred higher levels of sweetness.
Dec 17, 2005
