At some time during adolescence, the intensity of sweetness most preferred declines to levels preferred by adults [6]. Of course, these age-related changes refer to adolescents as a group, and some teenagers and adults retain the preferences for high-intensity sweetness, which is characteristic of children [6]. Interestingly, such developmentally related declines in preferred sweetness may represent behavioral correlates of developmentally related changes in dopamine brain pathways [7].
