In a new study, researchers from the University at Buffalo found that obesity changes our sense of taste by altering how our tongues react to different food items.
Have you ever wondered why obese people are often seen finding food more tasteful than others, forcing them to eat more compared to thinner people? It seems like University at Buffalo biologists may have an answer for this. In a mice study they found that obesity affects the sweet tasting buds. Obesity changes our sense of taste by altering how our tongues react to different food items, state the study authors in the press release.
"Studies have shown that obesity can lead to alterations in the brain, as well as the nerves that control the peripheral taste system, but no one had ever looked at the cells on the tongue that make contact with food," said lead scientist Kathryn Medler, PhD, UB associate professor of biological sciences. "What we see is that even at this level - at the first step in the taste pathway - the taste receptor cells themselves are affected by obesity," Medler said. "The obese mice have fewer taste cells that respond to sweet stimuli, and they don't respond as well."
During the study, researchers noted that the plump mice had fewer taste cells that responded to sweet stimuli than thinner counterparts. Moreover, the cells that did respond to sweetness reacted relatively weakly. Previous studies have established that fat people yearn for sweet food and this yearning is even more because they can't taste this flavor as well as thin people. Researchers are yet to determine why the inability to detect sweetness might encourage weight gain.
The findings of this study are important because taste is a decisive factor pertaining to what we eat and in what quantity.
"If we understand how these taste cells are affected and how we can get these cells back to normal, it could lead to new treatments," Medler concluded. "These cells are out on your tongue and are more accessible than cells in other parts of your body, like your brain."
