To examine the effects of lunches with different dietary energy densities on food preferences between genders.

Randomized crossover study. Participants were administered the following packed test meals once weekly on a specified day during six sessions: control (150 g of rice with a sautéed beef entrée containing 40 g of raw beef and 240 g of vegetables), high-meat/low-rice, low-vegetable, medium-fat/low-vegetable, high-fat and high-fat/low-vegetable meals. Subjective levels of sensory properties were assessed over time using visual analogue scales.

University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.

Sixty-five men and sixty-five women matched by age and BMI.

Men showed significantly stronger desires for salty and fatty foods after meals (P<0·05). Women showed a significantly stronger desire for sweetness from 2 h after the low-vegetable meal, and increasing fat content under high-vegetable conditions caused a significant stimulated sweetness desire in women more than in men (P<0·05). Moreover, after a high-meat/low-rice meal with 100 g of rice, sweetness desire was stronger in women (P=0·024), whereas no significant differences in sweetness desire were shown between genders after another low-energy-density control meal with 150 g of rice.

Men had significantly stronger desires for salty and fatty foods, whereas women preferred sweet food after meals. The sweetness desire in women was stimulated by increasing fat content, even with a high vegetable intake. Low rice intake in a low-energy-density diet also caused a relative stimulation of sweetness desire in women.