Loss of Taste Could Increase The Risk of Obesity

People who lost their sensitivity to sweetness tend to put more sugar in their foods to satisfy themselves. But adding more sugar leads to overweight and obesity.

Individuals with a diminished ability to taste food may choose sweeter and higher-calorie foods that may lead them to overweight or obesity, reveals scientists Cornell University.//

"We found that the more people lost sensitivity to sweetness, the more sugar they wanted in their foods," said lead author Robin Dando, assistant professor of food science, whose research has been published online by the journal Appetite.

Apple Cider Vinegar - The Controversial Health Tonic - Weight Loss Blood Sugar Blood Pressure
Apple cider vinegar is good as a salad dressing or as a pickling agent but how effective is this ancient folk remedy in treating chronic ailments? Find out …

‘An overweight or obese individual who lost sensitivity to sweetness may seek out for more amounts of sugar in their foods to satisfy themselves.’

Nutritionists, researchers and doctors have long suspected a connection between diminished taste sensitivity and obesity, but no one had tested if losing taste altered intake. In his research, Dando temporarily dulled the taste buds of study participants and had them sample foods of varying sugar concentrations.

For the blind tests, the researchers provided participants with an herbal tea with low, medium or high concentrations of a naturally occurring herb, Gymnema Sylvestre, which is known to temporarily block sweet receptors. During the testing, participants added their favored levels of sweetness to bland concoctions.

Without realizing it, they gravitated to 8 to 12 percent sucrose. Soft drinks are generally around 10 percent sugar. "That's not a coincidence," said Dando. But those participants with their taste receptors blocked began to prefer higher concentrations of sugar.

Artificial Sweeteners | Sugar Substitutes: Types & Benefits
Artificial Sweetener is a sugar substitute with fewer or no calories. High-intensity sweeteners are many times sweeter than sucrose.

"Others have suggested that the overweight may have a reduction in their perceived intensity of taste. So, if an overweight or obese person has a diminished sense of taste, our research shows that they may begin to seek out more intense stimuli to attain a satisfactory level of reward," explained Dando. This can influence their eating habits to compensate for a lower taste response, he said.

The study showed that for a regular, sugary 16-ounce soft drink, a person with a 20 percent reduction in the ability to taste sweet would crave an extra teaspoon of sugar to reach an optimal level of sweetness, as compared to someone with unaltered taste response.

Strategies to Limit Sugary Drinks may Sometimes Backfire
Offering smaller cup sizes with free refills - can actually increase individual consumption of sugary drinks.

"The gustatory system that is, the taste system we have may serve as an important nexus in understanding the development of obesity. With this in mind, taste dysfunction should be considered as a factor," Dando said.

Can Sugary Drinks Change People�s Behavior?
Interventions to reduce sugary drink consumption include campaigns to increase public awareness about the sugar content and the consequences of heavy consumption.

Source-Eurekalert