Cats Lack a Sweet Taste Receptor

Li, Xia; Li, Weihua; Wang, Hong; Bayley, Douglas L.; Cao, Jie; Reed, Danielle R.; Bachmanov, Alexander A.; Huang, Liquan; Legrand-Defretin, Véronique; Beauchamp, Gary K.; Brand, Joseph G.

doi:10.1093/jn/136.7.1932s

Cited by 74 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…It is now necessary to determine the usefulness and limits of sensory data gathered from human panels in describing and predicting food acceptance and preference behaviours in cats. For instance, while the sense of taste in cats appears generally similar to that of other mammals, they lack a sweet taste receptor (Li et al, 2006), which may limit the applicability of sweetness ratings obtained from humans. Modification of existing techniques used with human food research, such as external preference mapping (Naes and Risvik, 1996) may be useful.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing the sensory characteristics and acceptance of canned cat food: use of a human taste panel

Pickering

2009

Animal Physiology Nutrition

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SummaryA methodology based on descriptive analysis techniques used in the evaluation of human food has been successfully refined to allow for a human taste panel to profile the flavour and texture of a range of cat food products (CFP) and their component parts. Included in this method is the development of evaluation protocols for homogeneous products and for binary samples containing both meat chunk (MC) and gravy/gel (GG) constituents. Using these techniques, 18 flavour attributes (sweet, sour/acid, tuna, herbal, spicy, soy, salty, cereal, caramel, chicken, methionine, vegetable, offaly, meaty, burnt flavour, prawn, rancid and bitter) and four texture dimensions (hardness, chewiness, grittiness and viscosity) were generated to describe the sensations elicited by 13 commercial pet food samples. These samples differed in intensity for 16 of the 18 flavour attributes, which allows for individual CFP flavour profiles to be developed. Principal components analysis (PCA) could successfully discriminate between samples within the PCA space and also reveal some groupings amongst them. While many flavour attributes were weakly correlated, a large number (describing both taste and retro-nasal aroma qualities) were required to adequately differentiate between samples, suggesting considerable complexity in the products assessed. For both MC and GG, differences between samples for each of the texture dimensions were also found. For MC, grittiness appears to be the most discriminating textural attribute, while for GG viscosity discriminates well between samples. Meat chunks and gravy/gels differed significantly from each other in both flavour and texture. Cat food products differed in their liking ratings, although no differences were found between homogeneous, MC and GG samples, and eight flavour attributes were correlated with overall liking scores. It is now necessary to determine the usefulness and limits of sensory data gathered from human panels in describing and predicting food acceptance and preference behaviours in cats. For instance, while the sense of taste in cats appears generally similar to that of other mammals, they lack a sweet taste receptor (Li et al., 2006), which may limit the applicability of sweetness ratings obtained from humans. Modification of existing techniques used with human food research, such as external preference mapping (Naes and Risvik, 1996) may be useful. Ultimately, this may facilitate more economical and efficient methods for optimizing cat food flavour and texture and predicting the effects of composition and processing changes on cat

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing the sensory characteristics and acceptance of canned cat food: use of a human taste panel

Pickering

2009

Animal Physiology Nutrition

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“…The same factors can be used in cats. Yet, adding sugar does not increase palatability, as cats are unable to taste sweet stimuli, due to the lack of a functional Tas1r2 gene and the inability to form a functional sweet-taste receptor (Li et al 2005(Li et al , 2006). Still, both tested liquid supplements contained high levels of nitrogen-free extract (NFE) (LNScat: 47.5% DM; LNSdog: 46.3% DM) as vegetable by-products (LNScat: 6.7%, LNSdog: 6.1%) were in second place on the ingredient list.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palatability of different concentrations of a liquid nutritional supplement in healthy cats and dogs of different ages and breeds

Verbrugghe¹,

Janssens²,

Hesta³

2012

Vet. Med. - Czech

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Hypo-and anorexia are the most commonly presented complaints for many diseases in veterinary medicine, leading to malnutrition, immunosuppression, compromised wound healing and altered drug metabolism. Stimulating appetite and palatability are therefore important factors in managing anorectic pets. The palatability of a liquid nutritional supplement for cats (LNScat) and dogs (LNSdog), which can be added to the diet as appetite stimulant, was evaluated in healthy pets. In total, 60 cats and 60 dogs of different ages and breeds were included in the study. Acceptance tests were performed using LNS with a concentration of 100% (LNS100) and preferences of water and three different concentrations of LNS (LNS50, LNS70, LNS100) were tested using a traditional twopan preference test. Acceptance tests with LNS100 showed that cats and dogs generally accepted LNS very well. In dogs, a weak positive correlation existed between acceptance and age, whereas in cats no correlation with age was observed. Furthermore, preference tests showed a clear preference for LNS, regardless of dilution (LNS50, LNS70 and LNS100), when compared to water. In cats, LNS100 was generally better accepted than LNS50 and LNS70. Dogs preferred LNS70 and LNS100 to LNS50. The present study demonstrated that LNS is highly palatable for healthy dogs and cats. If future research confirms that LNS is also highly palatable for ill and hospitalised patients and stimulates appetite in a hospital setting, a practical tool to improve moisture and nutrient intake in patients with hypo-or anorexia will become available.

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“…Physiological and taste preference tests showed that animals have different sensitivity to different taste substances [10]. For example, feline animals such as cats, lions and tigers do not prefer sweet tastes because they lack the ability to sense sweetness [6], while other types of carnivores, such as dogs, love sweetness. Although little is known about the taste preferences in the other animals, the variety in the lectin binding patterns demonstrated by the present study suggests that they might have their own unique ways to "enjoy" tastes even humans cannot ever imagine.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Lectin Histochemical Studies on Taste Buds in Five Orders of Mammals

Taniguchi

Koida

Mutoh

2008

The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

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ABSTRACT. Although it has been reported that specific proteins are present to take charge in the gustation in the taste buds, there have been only a few reports on the distribution of glycoconjugates binding to glycoproteins on the cellular membranes of the taste cells. In the present study, therefore, binding patters of 24 biotinylated lectins were examined in the three types of lingual papillae in five species of mammals belonging to different orders: cow (artiodactyl), horse (perissodactyl), monkey (primate), dog (carnivore) and mouse (rodent). As the results, lectin binding patterns were different among circumvallate, foliate and fungiform papillae, among the cells of the taste buds, and among animal species. These findings suggest that the different binding patterns of the lectins in the taste papillae and taste bud cells may be involved in different sensitivities of taste among mammalian species. KEY WORDS: glycoconjugate, lectin, lingual papillae, mammalian orders, taste bud.

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Cats Lack a Sweet Taste Receptor

Cited by 74 publications

References 28 publications

Optimizing the sensory characteristics and acceptance of canned cat food: use of a human taste panel

Optimizing the sensory characteristics and acceptance of canned cat food: use of a human taste panel

Palatability of different concentrations of a liquid nutritional supplement in healthy cats and dogs of different ages and breeds

Comparative Lectin Histochemical Studies on Taste Buds in Five Orders of Mammals

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