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Initial taste perceptions stronger, slower to decline for adults with obesity
Adults with obesity offered samples of chocolate reported higher levels of perceived initial taste and experienced slower rates of taste decline than adults with normal BMI and overweight offered the same samples, according to findings from a randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“Taste perceptions may lead to overeating,” Linnea A. Polgreen, PhD, of the department of pharmacy practice and science at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, said in a press release. “If people with obesity have different taste perceptions than nonobese people, it could lead to better understanding of obesity and possibly designing new approaches to prevent obesity.”
As individuals consume more of a food, they experience diminishing marginal taste perception, which means their level of perceived taste from additional consumption may decline, Polgreen and colleagues wrote. The relationship between perceived taste and quantity consumed traditionally has been referred to as sensory-specific satiety.
Researchers analyzed data from 290 adults (mean age, 38.8 years; 80% women), including 161 with normal BMI, 78 with overweight and 51 with obesity. Researchers provided participants with samples of chocolate, one at a time, until they chose to stop eating, along with a questionnaire. About half of the participants (n = 150) were randomly selected to receive nutritional information. Primary outcome was perceived taste for each sample. Researchers used a time-series-regression model to estimate perceived taste changes while controlling for participant characteristics.
Participants consumed between two and 51 pieces of chocolate (mean, 12.1 pieces). Perceived taste of the chocolate samples, from the first to the last sample tasted, decreased by an average of 2 points, according to researchers; 82.7% of participants reported a net decline in perceived taste from first to last sample and 11.4% reported a net increase.
The researchers did not observe a difference in taste perceptions between normal-weight participants and those with overweight. However, participants with obesity had higher levels of initial taste perception than those with normal weight and overweight (P = .02). For all samples consumed, participants with obesity rated samples around 0.5 points higher (on a 10-point scale) vs. those with overweight and normal weight, the researchers wrote. Additionally, participants with obesity reported taste perceptions that declined at a more gradual rate than those with normal weight or overweight (P < .01), according to researchers.
“The slight divergence between the normal and overweight group averages, occurring at sample number 10, was driven by a handful of participants who discontinued participation around the 10th sample,” the researchers wrote.
The researchers noted that self-reported hunger prior to the study affected taste perception, but providing nutritional information did not.
"Our findings further indicate that obese participants needed to consume a greater quantity of chocolate than nonobese participants to experience a similar decline in taste perceptions,” Aaron C. Miller, PhD, of the department of epidemiology at University of Iowa, said in the release. “Specifically, obese women needed to eat 12.5 pieces of chocolate to fall to the same level of taste perception as nonobese women who ate only 10 pieces, which corresponds to a difference of 67.5 calories. This may, in part, explain why obese people consume more than nonobese people.” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.