Taste and weight: is there a link?

Abstract

Investigations of the relations between taste perception and obesity have concentrated largely on sweet and bitter tastes, with little work on the "savory" tastes-salt and glutamate-and very little work on sour taste. This article briefly reviews current understanding of the relations between the ability to taste different tastes (ie, taste threshold for sweet, bitter, sour, salt, and umami) and body mass. Obese children and adolescents show a disturbance in some tastes, with reported reductions in sweet and salt thresholds. Observations on relations between sweet taste threshold and obesity are contradictory; literature discrepancies may depend on the techniques used to evaluate taste. Obese women, however, report higher intensities of monosodium glutamate perception. Taste thresholds have been reported to be raised (bitter and sour), lowered (salt), or unchanged (sweet) in obese adults. Taste perceptual changes (threshold, intensity) in obesity are complex and may be different in obese men and women and in adults and children. Very little is currently known about the relations between savory tastes-salt and umami-and body weight, and these areas merit further study.

Masticatory function, taste, and salivary flow in young healthy adults

“…According to the results of the third regression model, BMI and WC could explain 5% of taste. Obesity has been linked to diets containing high levels of fat and sugar, which may have implications for taste conditions (51,52); however, Donaldson et al (53) argued that taste is only one factor among the complex causes of obesity, which corroborates with the percentage of taste predicted in our results.…”

Taste and smell dysfunction in childhood cancer survivors

“…In the general population, those with a documented taste or smell dysfunction can alter their food intake, either by compensating for the lack of flavour in foods with an increase in intake, or decreasing their intake due to a lack of enjoyment of the food [18,9]. Taste dysfunction has also been associated with obesity in both adults and children [19][20] in the general population. The taste and smell function of childhood cancer survivors (CCS) has not been previously assessed.…”

Changes in the salivary protein profile of morbidly obese women either previously subjected to bariatric surgery or not

“…Changes in taste sensitivity have been referred to in studies of obesity, especially regarding sweetness and bitterness. Although there is some controversy as to whether these are perceived with less or equal intensity by individuals with high body mass index (BMI) [12], most studies report that obese individuals present higher liking ratings for sweetness [40] and more pronounced aversive reactions to bitterness [17] than normal-weight subjects.…”