Friday, November 22, 2013

Does obesity reshape our sense of taste?



 
 
 
 
Severely overweight mice had an impaired ability to detect sweets and fewer taste buds compared to slimmer mice.  Obesity can lead to alterations in the brain and also nerves that control peripheral taste.  This is an important find because taste buds play a vital role in regulating appetite, what and how much we eat.  It’s not clear exactly how an inability to detect sweetness might encourage weight gain but previous research showed obese people yearn for sweet and savory foods and might not taste these flavors as well as thinner people.  Determining the connection between taste and appetite with obesity may encourage more healthy eating and new treatments for obesity.   
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131121154944.htm
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2013/11/030.html

3 comments:

  1. I think this is very interesting. I wonder where they came up with the idea to study taste buds. It makes sense that it would have an effect on obesity.

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  2. I found this information very interesting as well, taste buds are a billiant idea to test regarding obesity and diet in my opinion. It makes a lot of sense if that is why many obese people are obese. With that said I also feel that it comes back to personal choices made to either eat junk, or have an apple instead of a cupcake.

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  3. The link between our sense of taste and appetite is quiet interesting. When we tend to crave something, it does not go away until we take a bite and taste it. However, once we lose that craving, we become satisfied and sometimes even grow tired of it, Since some of our taste cells die off as we get older I wonder what the results would be if this study was conducted specifically towards the elderly.

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