The influence of a high-fat meal on fat taste thresholds
Introduction
Emerging evidence from humans and animals suggests a taste modality responsive to fat (Keast and Constanzo, 2015, Running et al., 2013). Mounting evidence is suggestive of a link between dietary fat consumption and sensitivity to fatty acids. Research has focussed on the potential association between excess dietary fat consumption and sensitivity to fatty acids throughout the alimentary canal (Little and Feinle-Bisset, 2011, Stewart et al., 2011). This work also suggested that oral fatty acid sensitivity is linked to body mass index (BMI) with hypersensitive individuals having lower BMIs than hyposensitive individuals. Nevertheless, this association remains contentious with some other studies finding no association between BMI and oral fatty acid sensitivity (Kamphuis et al., 2003, Mattes, 2009, Mattes, 2011, Stewart and Keast, 2012).
Adaptation of the taste system has been shown to occur with some nutrients including sodium chloride (NaCl) where increasing the amount of dietary sodium increases the taste detection threshold of NaCl (Mattes, 1997). Similarly, fat taste thresholds may be influenced by long-term fat consumption with modulation occurring after consumption of a modified diet over a 4-week period (Newman et al., 2016, Stewart and Keast, 2012); however, there is little evidence surrounding the fat content of a meal immediately prior to testing being a contributing factor to intra-individual variation in fat taste detection thresholds (Tucker, Nuessle, Garneau, Smutzer, & Mattes, 2015).
There have been numerous studies investigating the influence of meal consumption on primary taste thresholds, but results are variable with some studies showing an effect (Moore et al., 1965, Suchecka et al., 2011, Zverev, 2004), while others showing no effect (Pasquet, Monneuse, Simmen, Marez, & Hladik, 2006). Pasquet et al. (Pasquet et al., 2006) investigated the effect of a test meal on detection and recognition thresholds for the primary tastes and found no differences in taste thresholds for sucrose, fructose, sodium chloride (NaCl), 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) and quinine pre- and post-meal. However, Moore et al. (Moore et al., 1965) reported that there was a trend for a reduced taste of sucrose after a meal (the macronutrient composition of the meal was not discussed). Similarly, another study reported that consumption of a high-carbohydrate meal influences taste perception of sweet taste in men, but not women (Suchecka et al., 2011). The same study also reported that salty taste was not influenced by the high-carbohydrate meal (Suchecka et al., 2011), suggesting that it may be a macronutrient specific effect. The composition of the meals provided to the participants in these studies may impact on the differing results found for example, a meal high in sodium may directly increase or decrease sodium thresholds, however a meal high in sucrose may have no effect on sodium thresholds. In addition, Tucker et al. (Tucker et al., 2015) investigated this concept with regards to fat taste and reported a negative correlation between the total amount of fat and monounsaturated fat consumed in a meal prior to testing and taste intensity ratings for linoleic acid. Thus, these findings suggest there is a possible association between dietary fat and fat taste thresholds which warrants further investigation. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of a high-fat (60% fat: 20% carbohydrate: 20% protein), low-fat (20% fat: 40% carbohydrate: 40% protein) or macronutrient balanced (33.3% fat: 33.3% carbohydrate: 33.3% protein) meal on fat taste thresholds.
Section snippets
Participants
Power analysis was conducted prior to the study to determine an appropriate sample size to achieve adequate statistical power. Data were used from a prior study which evaluated detection thresholds for fatty acids (Stewart et al., 2010). Using an α level of 0.05 and a 10% β (90% power), it was predicted that 31 participants would be required for this study to detect a C18:1 detection threshold difference of 0.65 mM. Participants were recruited from Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria,
Participants
Participants (n = 32, 15 males: age 49.3 ± 4.8 years [range 22–73 years], BMI 24.7 ± 0.8 kg/m2 [range 20.8–30.5 kg/m2], 17 females: age 31.5 ± 2.8 years [range 22–60 years], BMI 21.86 ± 0.9 kg/m2 [range 18.3–33.8 kg/m2]) were recruited. Out of the total 32 participants, 7 were classified as overweight/obese (n = 7, 5 male, 2 female, BMI 29.1 ± 0.8 kg/m2 [range 25.5–33.7 kg/m2]).
Concentrations of C18:1 fatty acid in test meals
The frittatas contained varying amounts of fat (high-fat frittata contained a total of 9.7 g/100 g of fat and 2.4 g
Discussion
This study demonstrated that fat taste thresholds were stable and not influenced by consumption of a high-fat, low-fat or macronutrient balanced breakfast both one and two hours post consumption. This study also added to the knowledge base of the reliability of the fat taste threshold measurement where there was a high test-retest reliability within participants. Participants' ability to detect the fat content of custard, or preference for regular- and low-fat foods did not differ between
Conflicts of interest
None.
Author contributions
The author contributions were as follows: L.P.N was involved in the study conception and design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of the manuscript. S.J.T provided expert input and guidance. D.P.B provided expert input and was involved in drafting of the manuscript. R.S.J.K was involved in the study conception and design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content. All
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Strategic Research Cluster for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia. Lisa Newman was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award provided by The Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations.
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