Recruiting

Unsweetened Sparkling WaterA Sensory Strategy to Cut Sugary Beverages in African/American and Latine Adolescents

Sponsor:

Nana Gletsu Miller

Code:

NCT07223151

Conditions

Obesity, Adolescent

Dietary Sugars

Taste Perception

Insulin Resistance

Feeding Behavior

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 18

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Unsweetened Sparkling Water Replacement

Progressively Reduced Sugar Beverage Replacement

Plain Water Replacement

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether replacing sugary sodas with unsweetened, flavored sparkling waters can reduce added sugar intake and improve health in Black/African American and Latine adolescents with obesity who prefer sweet-tasting beverages. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does replacing sugary sodas with water change liking for sugary drinks, and water?
Do shifts in liking for sweetness lead to improved diet quality and cardiometabolic health?

Researchers will compare replacing sugary sodas with one of three alternative beverages: unsweetened sparkling water, plain water, and beverages with gradually reduced sugar to determine which strategy is most effective.

Participants will:

Replace sugary sodas with study drinks for 4 weeks
Complete taste tests to measure their liking for and sensory experience of sweetness over 8-weeks
Provide dietary recalls, body measurements, and blood samples over 8-weeks

Conditions

Obesity, Adolescent

Dietary Sugars

Taste Perception

Insulin Resistance

Feeding Behavior

Study ID

NCT07223151

Start date

Jul 25, 2025

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

Jun, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jun, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 18

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Adolescents ages 12 to 18 who display a "sweet-liker" pattern, characterized by a preference for higher concentrations of sugar in beverages, specifically identifying 0.3M (10.3% sucrose) or above as their most liked sample.
Adolescents consumes sugar-sweetened soda greater than or equal to 2 times per week. Adolescents must also indicate a willingness to drink study beverages; not currently dieting/changing diet.

Exclusion Criteria:

Adolescent participant is pregnant, since pregnancy affects taste perception
Participant is allergic or intolerant to the items we are testing.
Adolescent with type 1 or type 2 diabetes (self-declared or detected at screening visit through fasting glucose)
Use of GLP-1 receptor agonists intended for weight loss.

Study Design

Enrollment

63 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Unsweetened Sparkling Water (USW)

Participants in this group will replace all sugar-sweetened sodas with flavored, unsweetened sparkling waters for 4 weeks.

experimental: Progressively Reduced Sugar (PRS)

Participants in this group will replace sugar-sweetened sodas with carbonated beverages that contain decreasing levels of sugar each week over a 4-week period, ending with a fully unsweetened sparkling water.

active comparator: Plain Water (PW)

Participants in this group will replace all sugar-sweetened sodas with plain, still water for 4 weeks. This arm serves as a control to compare outcomes against both the unsweetened sparkling water and gradually reduced sugar beverage interventions.

Interventions

Unsweetened Sparkling Water Replacement

Participants replace all sugar-sweetened sodas with flavored, unsweetened sparkling waters for 4 weeks.

Progressively Reduced Sugar Beverage Replacement

Participants replace sugary sodas with beverages containing gradually decreasing sugar concentrations (weekly), ending with unsweetened sparkling water.

Plain Water Replacement

Participants replace all sugar-sweetened sodas with plain, still water for 4 weeks. This serves as a comparator to evaluate sensory and metabolic changes.

Primary outcome measure

Liking ratings changes for sugar concentrations over time [ Time Frame: Baseline, Week 2, Week 4, Week 8 ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Nana Gletsu Miller, PhD

+1 (812) 855-9110 ngletsum@iu.edu

Locations

Indiana University Hospital

Recruiting

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 46202

Contacts

Nana Gletsu Miller, PhD

812-855-7643 ngletsum@iu.edu

Purdue University

Recruiting

West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, 47907

Contacts

Cordelia Running, PhD

765-494-2282 crunning@purdue.edu

More Information

Sponsor

Nana Gletsu Miller

Last update posted

Aug 6, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

Obesity
Adolescent
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
Taste Perception
Insulin Resistance
Sweet Taste Preference
Latine Youth
African American Youth
Dietary Intervention
Beverage Replacement
Sugar Reduction
Sensory Evaluation
Randomized Controlled Trial

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Nana Gletsu Miller on 2026-08-06.