Sensory discrimination, intensity perception, and affective judgment of sucrose-sweetness in the overweight.

Differential sensitivity, intensity perception, and pleasantness of sucrose-sweetness was determined with two groups of women, 13 overweight and 12 normal weight. Discriminability, psychophysical, psychohedonic, and preference functions were determined for both groups. In addition, maximally preferred sweetness intensities and the corresponding maximally preferred sucrose concentrations were calculated. The data showed that the two groups did not differ in any of these functions or measures. Individual variability in affective response behavior was larger within the overweight than within the normal weight group.