London, March 6 (ANI): A gene involved in fat taste may explain why some people like fatty foods and others prefer low-fat diets, a new study suggests.

About five years ago, animal studies first revealed the presence of entirely novel types of oral fat sensors or receptors on the tongue.

Prior to this time, it was believed that fats were perceived only by flavour and texture cues. With this new information, "everything that we thought we knew about fat perception got turned on its head," said Beverly Tepper, a professor in the Department of Food Science at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

Tepper has been studying consumer preferences for high-fat versus low-fat foods, and has been intrigued by the questions: "Why are some people more sensitive and others less sensitive to fat?" "Is this a personal trait?" "And do genes contribute to these differences?"

Those new discoveries suggest that fats are perceived on the tongue as a "taste" sensation by binding to specialized receptors on taste buds.

More specifically, Tepper explained, "fats are broken down in the mouth to fatty acids, and it's the fatty acids that bind to these receptors."

One oral fat receptor that has attracted a great deal of recent attention is CD36, a carrier protein that helps fatty acids traverse cell membranes in many tissues of the body.

But how is CD36 related to consumer fat preferences and the possible genetic differences that Tepper and colleagues are so keen on understanding?

The answer lies in a new study by Tepper, in conjunction with her former student Kathleen Keller, who received her Ph.D. in 2002 from Rutgers' graduate program in nutritional sciences.

Keller, now an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at The Pennsylvania State University and lead author on the article, studied an overweight population of African-American adults and found those who had a specific change or variation in the CD36 gene perceived the creaminess and fattiness of salad dressings quite well, but they were less able to differentiate the high-fat from the low-fat versions.

Originally posted here:
Gene linked to preference of high-fat foods

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