People who are drawn to ice cream, candy bars and other sugary sweet snacks also eat more fruit each day than those whose food cravings lead them to salt, new research suggests. “The take-home message here is that if you are a self-identified sweet lover, try to replace a few sugary snacks with more healthful sweet snacks that are packed with nutrients, not just sugar and calories,” said Lona Sandon, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Researchers at Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab analyzed data from an ongoing U.S. Department of Agriculture consumer survey. They found that folks whose foods cravings lean towards sweet snacks also eat more fruits each day than salty-snack lovers do. Even accounting for total snack consumption of all kinds, sweet snacks consumption had more than twice the impact on fruit consumption than did salty-snack intake. Parents can use their child’s sweet/salt preferences as a way to nudge them toward healthier food cravings. And adults can use this information to help improve their own eating habits, the researchers said. For example, try replacing strawberry ice cream with a smaller serving of vanilla with fresh berries. When it comes to veggies, aim for the sweeter ones such as red peppers, sweet potatoes, sweet corn and sugar snap peas.
