Responsiveness and Reliability of a Sipping Device to Measure Motivation in Normal-Weight Individuals and Bariatric Surgery Patients

There is an urgent need to measure the motivation to taste a sweet fluid in order to determine the influence of sweet tastes on the potential choices and consumption of beverages in patients with obesity. Current methods utilize either survey instruments or arbitrary operant tasks. The sipometer enables the participant to utilize an actual ingestive behavioral response to measure motivation during access to beverages on either ad libitum (AL) or progressive time ratio (PR) schedules. We determined the sipometer's responsiveness and reliability as a test of change in motivation for sweet tastes after bariatric surgery. Participants (58 patients and 28 controls, BMI: 18.5-24.9 kg/m²) sham-consumed an aspartame-sweetened (S) and non-sweetened (N) beverage under AL and PR schedules at a pre-surgery/baseline and a 3-month and 24-month visit (patients only). Cumulative pressure (CumPres), a measure of effort, was the sum of the pressures exerted during sipping under each condition. Baseline CumPres for PRS was higher than ALS and ALN in patients (<i>p</i> < 0.03) and higher than PRN in controls (<i>p</i> = 0.009). At 3 months, CumPres did not differ amongst conditions in patients, but CumPres for PRS was higher than all other conditions in controls (<i>p</i> < 0.0005). There were no baseline group differences; however, patients' CumPres for PRS was lower than controls' at 3 months (<i>p</i> = 0.002). Patients' CumPres for PRS decreased non-significantly between the baseline and 3 months but increased at 24 months compared to 3 months (<i>p</i> = 0.025) and was no different from baseline. Controls' CumPres for PRS increased at 3 months (<i>p</i> = 0.0359), but CumPres for all conditions was correlated between visits (<i>p</i>'s < 0.038). The sipometer is a reliable and sensitive measure of motivation to consume sweet beverages and may reflect changes in post-operative energy intake.