Understanding sweet-liking phenotypes: differences in eating behaviour and metabolic responses to food intake as a function of sweet liking – implications for personalised weight loss interventions

Is the 'sweet tooth' to blame for obesity? During exposure to food stimuli, afferent information from the food’s sensory properties, the body’s (an)orexigenic hormones, and prior memories are integrated centrally. The degree to which ingestive behaviour is biased toward hedonic or homeostatic signals depends on the food type and our need state. Sweetness with its dopamine‐ and opioid‐dependent reinforcing properties and post-ingestive gut‐to‐brain sensing pathways may steer our choices toward overconsumption, and ultimately  weight gain. However, we have not uniformly developed obesity.

To respond to the call for personalised/multidisciplinary weight management strategies, exploring taste  hedonics' role in the interplay between physiology and psychology in overeating shows promise. This project aims to explore the link between interpersonal variation in sweet-liking with appetite control and behavioural traits to inform the development of a novel personalised weight loss e-intervention.

Seeking an enthusiastic contributor for this exciting project combining physiology and psychology to impact population health. Join our friendly interdisciplinary research, working in state-of-the-art labs under the supervision of subject-area experts.

Dr Thondre's research focuses on glycaemia, satiety, and sensometrics. Dr Iatridi has developed the Sussex sweet-liking phenotyping test and published work on sweetness and eating behaviours. Dr Daly is a public health mixed methods researcher. Collaborators from the School of Psychology at Sussex University and Oxford University's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences will bring their expertise in appetite research and weight loss trials.

The studentship requires you to undertake the equivalent of up to 6 hrs of teaching per week on average, during semester time, and to include preparation and marking (but no more than 20 hrs per week), and to participate in a teaching skills course without further remuneration.