Study finds obesity robs the tongue of tastebuds in mice

WASHINGTON — Packing on pounds seems to dull people’s sense of taste, and puzzled researchers turned to mice to figure out why: Obesity, they found, can rob the tongue of tastebuds.

Diet, exercise and genetics are among many factors that play a role in obesity. But taste preferences influence dietary choices, and some earlier studies have suggested that obese people often taste flavours with less intensity than lean people.

Cornell University food scientist Robin Dando and his team fed lab mice a high-fat diet that caused rapid weight gain — and then counted the tastebuds in a spot on the tongue that’s normally packed with them. The obese mice wound up with 25 per cent fewer tastebuds than lean mice that were fed a normal diet, the researchers reported in the journal PLOS Biology.

Could fatty food be responsible? No, the researchers found mice genetically resistant to obesity chowed down yet didn’t lose tastebuds. The study “does underscore the relationship between taste sensitivity and weight,” said Dr. John Morton, a Stanford University bariatric surgeon who wasn’t involved in the new work. “It’s another reason why it’s hard to lose weight.”