Sucrose activates human taste pathways differently from artificial sweetener

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.10.061
• Publication Date: 2007-11-20T07:21:08Z
• Authors: Guido K.W. Frank; Tyson A. Oberndorfer; Alan N. Simmons; Martin P. Paulus; Julie L. Fudge; Tony T. Yang; Walter H. Kaye
• Keywords: Sucralose; Artificial Sweetener

Animal models suggest that sucrose activates taste afferents differently than non-caloric sweeteners. Little information exists how artificial sweeteners engage central taste pathways in the human brain. We assessed sucrose and sucralose taste pleasantness across a concentration gradient in 12 healthy control women and applied 10% sucrose and matched sucralose during functional magnet resonance imaging. The results indicate that (1) both sucrose and sucralose activate functionally connected primary taste pathways; (2) taste pleasantness predicts left insula response; (3) sucrose elicits a stronger brain response in the anterior insula, frontal operculum, striatum and anterior cingulate, compared to sucralose; (4) only sucrose, but not sucralose, stimulation engages dopaminergic midbrain areas in relation to the behavioral pleasantness response. Thus, brain response distinguishes the caloric from the non-caloric sweetener, although the conscious mind could not. This could have important implications on how effective artificial sweeteners are in their ability to substitute sugar intake.