“Fat” Officially the Sixth Taste — And If You’re Good at Tasting It, You May Be Skinnier
by Robert Quigley | 4:28 pm, March 9th, 2010
“Fat” is officially a taste unto itself, according to new scientific findings, and some people are more sensitive to it than others. And that’s not all: People who are more sensitive to the taste of fat actually tend to consume less of it and have lower Body Mass Indexes.
AFP:
Researchers tested 30 people’s ability to taste a range of fatty acids in otherwise plain solutions and found that all were able to determine the taste — though some required higher concentrations than others.
They then developed a screening test to see how sensitive people were to the taste and found that, of the 50 people tested, their ability to detect fat was linked to their weight — a finding which could help counter obesity.
“We found that the people who were sensitive to fat, who could taste very low concentrations, actually consumed less fat than the people who were insensitive,” Keast told AFP. ”We also found that they had lower BMIs (Body Mass Indexes).”
Explains a lot, no?
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I hate articles that treat fats and fatty acids as the same thing.
Everybody can taste fatty acids, ever drink rotten milk? Rancid butter? Welcome to fatty acids.
Three fatty acids come together to form a triglyceride or what we consider fat. When the fat break down and the fatty acids break off you get the sour flavor of rotten milk. I challenge anybody to NOT taste that.
People who are more susceptible to to tasting the rotten bits of broken down fats are less likely to eat fat. No shit, when milk tastes rotten I don’t eat it either.
@Kerensky97 fair point — though in this case, the scientist in question actually gave them that soundbite: — “Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste — fat.” (cf. AFP article)
Not that that makes the analogue accurate.