Pleasantness of a sweet taste during hunger and satiety: effects of gender and "sweet tooth".

Hungry or sated adult female (N = 29) and male subjects (N = 28), classified according to whether they had eaten or not within 2 h, rated four concentrations of sucrose in a lime drink for their sweetness intensity and pleasantness. Subjects also rated their attitude towards sweets in general (self-reported sweet tooth). Female subjects rated the solutions as less pleasant when tasted soon after a meal. Male subjects showed a non-significant trend in the same direction. Female subjects also rated the solutions as more intense than the male subjects did. Moreover, subjects who reported having a "sweet tooth" (regardless of gender) showed a significant alliesthesia effect (i.e., enhancement of pleasantness of sweet tastes by hunger), whereas those with "no sweet tooth" did not. We conclude that both gender and the degree of individual "sweet tooth" influence alliesthesia.