Scientists identify receptor for tasting fat
THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A new study for the first time identified a human receptor tasting fat, suggesting that some people may be more sensitive to the presence of fat in foods.
The study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis was published online in the Journal of Lipid Research. They found that people with a particular variant of the CD36 gene are far more sensitive to the presence of fat than others.
'The ultimate goal is to understand how our perception of fat in food might influence what foods we eat and the quantities of fat that we consume,' says senior investigator Nada A. Abumrad, PhD, at the Dr. Robert A. Atkins Professor of Medicine and Obesity Research.
'In this study, we've found one potential reason for individual variability in how people sense fat. It may be, as was shown recently, that as people consume more fat, they become less sensitive to it, requiring more intake for the same satisfaction. What we will need to determine in the future is whether our ability to detect fat in foods influences our fat intake, which clearly would have an impact on obesity.'
THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A new study for the first time identified a human receptor tasting fat, suggesting that some people may be more sensitive to the presence of fat in foods.
The study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis was published online in the Journal of Lipid Research. They found that people with a particular variant of the CD36 gene are far more sensitive to the presence of fat than others.
'The ultimate goal is to understand how our perception of fat in food might influence what foods we eat and the quantities of fat that we consume,' says senior investigator Nada A. Abumrad, PhD, at the Dr. Robert A. Atkins Professor of Medicine and Obesity Research.
'In this study, we've found one potential reason for individual variability in how people sense fat. It may be, as was shown recently, that as people consume more fat, they become less sensitive to it, requiring more intake for the same satisfaction. What we will need to determine in the future is whether our ability to detect fat in foods influences our fat intake, which clearly would have an impact on obesity.'