Scientists study sugar and children

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Children like sweets, and sweets act as an analgesic; now scientists say that analgesic efficacy depends on a child's weight and liking for sweets.

"Some children like sweets not just because they taste good, but also because sweets make them feel good," said Julie Mennella at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "This study further reveals that for children, sweetness' effectiveness as an analgesic is related to liking for sweet taste and also to weight status."

Sucrose preferences were determined for 198 children, aged 5 to 10 years, and their mothers.

The researchers say they found 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 a 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 more sweetness.

"This intriguing finding may reflect differences in brain chemistry systems," said Mennella, who also said additional studies are needed to evaluate how dietary habits and individual differences contribute to a child's preference for sweet taste and its physiological consequences.

The research appears in the journal Pain.