['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.'] Is high-fat diet-related stimulation of sweetness desire greater in women than in men despite high vegetable intake?