sweet taste

But Dr. Mark Corkins, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on nutrition, said he sometimes sees children who are so reliant on the smooth, sweet taste of pouches that they have developed food and texture aversions and refuse to eat regular fruits or vegetables.

Their sweet taste, simple ingredients and powerful marketing promoting memorable cartoon mascots still resonate within us, even after our childhood is long over.

The sweet taste receptor, expressed in taste bud cells, conveys sweetness from the mouth when it is activated.

The rich research portfolio of the Monell Chemical Senses Center on sweet taste goes way back: Monell scientists were one of four teams in 2001 that found and described the mammalian sweet taste receptor -- TAS1R2-TAS1R3.

"Studies like these -- using Monell's technical capability and deep expertise in the chemical senses -- show that the sweet taste receptor TAS1R2-TAS1R3 helps to regulate glucose differently, depending on the sweetness of the food or beverage," said Breslin.