Fig. 3

Month*Group interaction by sucrose solution level (3, 6, 9, 12% sucrose) for sweetness intensity for the USA full-sugar sweetened carbonated soft drink (FSS-CSD) cohort (A) and USA low-calorie sweetened carbonated soft drink (LCS-CSD) cohort (B). The impact of intervention group (i.e., Control, Stepwise Reduction, or Direct Reduction) on sweetness intensity perception over time was evaluated with a repeated measures mixed model followed by the joint test of Month*Group interaction conducted using a contrast statement. The log(x + 1) transformation was applied to stabilize the variance for sweetness intensity and data are presented as back-transformed model-derived means (95% confidence interval). The slopes over time for the Stepwise Reduction group for the 9% and 12% sucrose solutions were significantly different compared to that for the Direct Reduction group (P = 0.008 and 0.010, respectively) for the USA LCS-CSD cohort. No other significant effects were observed. CI confidence interval, LS-Mean least square mean.