Obesity Could Be Linked to Diminished Sense of Taste

Individuals with reduced sense of taste may desire highly sweetened foods and beverages to compensate, thus influencing caloric intake and risk of obesity, according to a recent study.

The researchers randomly assigned 51 healthy individuals (mean age 42 years, mean BMI 23) to varying concentrations (1.2 g/L, 3.6 g/L, or 10.8 g/L) of tea containing Gymnema sylvestre, which temporarily and selectively reduced the perception of sweetness, or to a control tea.
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In each of 4 sessions, the participants rated the sweetness of 3 solutions containing 81 mM/L, 243 mM/L, and 729 mM/L of sucrose before and after rinsing their mouths with the tea solution. They then rated diet cola, regular cola, or a sugar cookie on a scale from -100 (not sweet enough) to 100 (much too sweet). They then rated their satiety and desire to eat more on a scale of 0 to 100.

Overall, individuals given the sweetness-suppressing tea perceived the sucrose solutions to be less sweet, and their preferred sweetness levels were higher compared with those given the control tea.

The researchers predicted that every 1% reduction in perceived sweetness was associated with a 0.40-g/L increase in optimal sucrose levels.

“Our results show that an attenuation in the perceived taste intensity of sweeteners correlates with shifted preference and altered hedonic response to select sweet foods. This suggests that those with a diminished sense of taste may desire more intense stimuli to attain a satisfactory level of reward, potentially influencing eating habits to compensate for a lower gustatory input,” the researchers wrote.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Noel CA, Sugrue M, Dando R, et al. Participants with pharmacologically impaired taste function seek out more intense, higher calorie stimuli. Appetite. 2017;117:74-81.