Sweeteners: Sugars, Sweet Taste Receptors, and Brain Responses

(LOOK AT THE PICTURES The figures really help you see how complicated the food to energy system really is)
Sweet taste receptors and sweet taste molecules are involved in transduction of sweet taste in taste buds.

Furthermore, it is clear that sweet taste pathways are present in the gut and in the CNS, including the appetite center in the hypothalamus.

Accumulating data suggest that these pathways act as nutrient sensors in the gut and the brain.

They also serve to regulate energy balance, glucose homeostasis, and food intake. Interactions between peripheral and central pathways are carefully regulated with input from peripheral mediators, such as leptin, ghrelin, insulin, GLP-1, and endocannabinoids.