Abstract
Objective. The purpose is to determine whether taste functions are different in massively obese adolescents as compared with non-obese adolescents, and to what extent metabolic disorders may interfere with taste perception, as suggested by the results of recent animal studies. Research method and procedures. We compared taste sensitivity and hedonic responses of 39 adolescents with severe early onset obesity (mean BMI: 39.5; min-max: 30.9–51.6) and 48 non-obese adolescents (mean BMI: 21.0; min-max: 16.5–27.9) of both sexes. We measured recognition thresholds for fructose, sucrose, citric acid and sodium chloride. Supra-threshold perceived intensity and hedonic responses were assessed for solutions of sucrose and sodium chloride. In obese subjects, the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome was assessed by measuring blood pressure and, in blood samples, fasting glycemia and insulinemia, the concentration of triglycerides and HDL cholesterol. HOMA modelling was used to assess insulin resistance. Results. Massively obese adolescents present a higher sensitivity to sucrose and sodium chloride than non-obese adolescents, with significantly lower recognition thresholds, and higher perceived intensities at supra-threshold levels for sucrose and salt. Hedonic responses are significantly lower for sodium chloride in the obese subjects. Among obese subjects, a significant positive correlation between taste responsiveness and the number of obesity-related metabolic disturbances is observed only in girls. Conclusion. Massively obese subjects have higher taste sensitivity than control subjects, especially for sucrose and salt. This can be explained, to some extent, by the influence of obesity-related metabolic disorders, which appears to be gender-specific.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from the Centre d'Information des Viandes (France). We are indebted to the staff of the Margency Center: Valérie Coppet (dietician) and Evelyne Mateusiak (nurse), and the staff of the secondary schools (Collège: André Chénier and Lycée: Louis Jouvet) in Eaubonne and Taverny, respectively, for helping us in this study, and to the volunteers, who kindly participated in the tests. We are also indebted to two anonymous reviewers for their important remarks and suggestions that helped to open our point of view towards the role of metabolic factors and to improve our initial manuscript.