Loss of Taste

Read this Today. Recent study of obesity and loss of taste buds. This is the conclusion half of article.

So Dando looked at one more group of mice – a bunch of mutants that can't produce a molecule called TNF alpha, a compound that creates inflammation in the body. TNF alpha and other compounds that create inflammation are naturally higher in obese individuals – both humans and mice — and cause them to have a higher background levels of inflammation. Even when these mice became very fat, they also didn't lose any taste buds. "[It means] taste bud loss is really related to that inflammatory state," Dando says.

That's a key finding, says Dr. John Morton, the chief of bariatric medicine at Stanford University, who was not involved in the new study. "We've known for a long time that obesity is a disease of inflammation," he says. "Before this study, we didn't know that there is a connection between inflammation and the proliferation of taste buds, and that actually leads to the decrease in taste sensitivity."

It's important to note that this study was done in mere mice, but Morton says that the situation is likely the same for human beings, too. "In this particular circumstance, it's reasonable to make that extrapolation [to humans.] We've done human studies that have similar findings," he says.

That blunting of taste may make it more difficult for obese individuals to adhere to certain diets, Morton says. With a diminished sense of taste, people need stronger, more richly flavored food in order to enjoy it as much as someone with 25 percent more taste buds. "Often that means more sugar and fat," Morton says. "And more calories."

It's not a permanent loss, though. Studies on bariatric surgery patients show that they start noticing food tastes better and more intense a couple of months after their operation. "This is a two-way mechanism. Probably the opposite happens," Dando says. Taste buds do come back.