![]() The other role of taste is a protective one - to prevent the ingestion of harmful and potentially toxic compounds, which is the domain of our bitter (and possible, sour) taste system. This role is served by our sweet (carbohydrate), salty (mineral), umami (amino acid) and, the more recently identified, fat (essential fatty acid) taste modalities. ![]() The roles of the taste system are twofold.First, to recognize nutrients to promote their ingestion in order to maintain optimal physiological function. Goals / Objectives The sense of taste is critical for normal feeding behavior. Finally, comparing males and females may yield data that helps explain which certain nutritional disorders (bulimia, anorexia, metabolic syndrome) have a greater incidence in one sex versus the other or why such behaviors as dieting yields greater success in males. Moreover, it will be useful for both the food and pharmaceutical industries in their attempts to design rational fat taste mimetics and in the pharmacological control of dietary fat intake. Understanding how these pathways are changed by one's dietary choices and history will enable one to make specific recommendations for dietary choice to facilitate optimal health. ![]() Our earlier work would suggest that feeding males a high fat diet results in a decrease in sensitivity to fatty acids, resulting in subsequent greater intake and a propensity to develop obesity. We will then turn our attention to how these taste pathways are altered by diet by focusing on the effects that feeding a high fat diet has on the ability to sense the chemical cues in fat, again comparing males and females. Because there is increasing evidence that nutrient detection, preference, intake, and processing may be different in males and females, we will compare the taste systems of male and female rodents' responses to the nutritive taste stimuli as a first step in trying to explain these differences using a multidisciplinary approach. The vast majority of what we know about the taste system has come from studies on males. The role of taste in food intake and dietary preference is becoming more evident as the cellular and molecular mechanisms for nutrient recognition have been elucidated. Non Technical Summary The epidemic of obesity is driven, at least in part, by overconsumption of appetitive nutrients such as fat and carbohydrates.
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