A new study published in Food Quality and Safety on May 20, 2026, reveals that hunger amplifies the immediate appeal of sweet taste regardless of calorie content, while habitual consumption of non-nutritive sweeteners may strengthen cognitive control over sweet cravings. The findings, from researchers at Jiangnan University in China and the University of Oxford, challenge assumptions about how hunger and artificial sweeteners shape eating behavior.
The study compared two groups of participants: those who regularly consume sugar and those who habitually use non-nutritive sweeteners. Under both hungry and satiated conditions, participants tasted sweetness-matched solutions containing either sugar or non-nutritive sweeteners. Their responses were measured through subjective ratings, emotional assessments, electrocardiogram, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
Results showed that hunger consistently boosted enjoyment of all sweet solutions, whether caloric or not, contradicting the hypothesis that hunger would specifically increase preference for sugar. Physiologically, hunger triggered sympathetic nervous system arousal, with shortened RR intervals and increased heart rate during sweet taste exposure. This indicates that hunger makes sweetness itself more appealing, independent of energy content.
More strikingly, habitual non-nutritive sweetener consumers exhibited significantly stronger oxygenated hemoglobin responses in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region associated with cognitive control and dietary self-regulation. This neural difference emerged even though participants tasted blind samples matched for sweetness intensity, ruling out perceptual explanations. The increased brain activity suggests that long-term use of zero-calorie sweeteners may enhance top-down cognitive regulation during eating, potentially reflecting a learned strategy to manage hedonic appeal.
“Hunger seems to turn up the volume on sweetness itself, making it more appealing whether it comes with calories or not,” the authors said. “We also saw that habitual non-nutritive sweetener users showed a stronger brain response in a region linked to self-control. It is as if their brains are working a little harder to keep their sweet intake in check.”
The study, published under DOI 10.1093/fqsafe/fyag046, provides practical guidance for public health and the food industry. Because hunger enhances the appeal of any sweet taste, replacing sugar with non-nutritive sweeteners in between-meal snacks might satisfy cravings without adding calories. The heightened brain activity in habitual users raises the possibility that these sweeteners could help reinforce cognitive control over food choices, though further research is needed. For now, the study suggests that sweetness itself powerfully drives hunger-related eating behavior, and reformulating products to be less sweet overall may be a more effective long-term strategy than simply swapping sugar for zero-calorie alternatives.
The research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province. Food Quality and Safety is an open access, peer-reviewed journal covering food quality, safety, nutrition, and health.
