How does fat influence flavor perception?

ScienceDaily (July 19, 2012) — A joint study carried out by The University of Nottingham and the multinational food company Unilever has found for the first time that fat in food can reduce activity in several areas of the brain which are responsible for processing taste, aroma and reward.

See Also:Health & MedicineNutritionDiet and Weight LossMind & BrainNutrition ResearchDieting and Weight ControlPlants & AnimalsFoodAgriculture and FoodReferenceSaturated fatSouth Beach dietUnsaturated fatFunctional neuroimaging

The research, now available in the Springer journal Chemosensory Perception, provides the food industry with better understanding of how in the future it might be able to make healthier, less fatty food products without negatively affecting their overall taste and enjoyment. Unveiled in 2010, Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan sets out its ambition to help hundreds of millions of people improve their diet around the world within a decade.

This fascinating three-year study investigated how the brains of a group of participants in their 20s would respond to changes in the fat content of four different fruit emulsions they tasted while under an MRI scanner. All four samples were of the same thickness and sweetness, but one contained flavour with no fat, while the other three contained fat with different flavour release properties.

The research found that the areas of the participants' brains which are responsible for the perception of flavour -- such as the somatosensory cortices and the anterior, mid & posterior insula -- were significantly more activated when the non-fatty sample was tested compared to the fatty emulsions despite having the same flavour perception. It is important to note that increased activation in these brain areas does not necessarily result in increased perception of flavour or reward.

Dr Joanne Hort, Associate Professor in Sensory Science at The University of Nottingham said: "This is the first brain study to assess the effect of fat on the processing of flavour perception and it raises questions as to why fat emulsions suppress the cortical response in brain areas linked to the processing of flavour and reward. It also remains to be determined what the implications of this suppressive effect are on feelings of hunger, satiety and reward."

Unilever food scientist Johanneke Busch, based at the company's Research & Development laboratories in Vlaardingen, Netherlands added: "There is more to people's enjoyment of food than the product's flavour -- like its mouthfeel, its texture and whether it satisfies hunger, so this is a very important building block for us to better understand how to innovate and manufacture healthier food products which people want to buy."

Nottingham University's Sensory Science Centre, its Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre and the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre were all involved in the research.

The study was co-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

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Genes Influence Whether Psych Drugs Lead to Weight Gain

HealthDay – 1 hr 23 mins ago FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have discovered two genetic variants associated with substantial, rapid weight gain in people taking antipsychotic medications.

The researchers said the findings could eventually be used by doctors to identify which patients have the variations so they can be treated without the risk of weight gain, which can lead to obesity and health problems including diabetes and heart disease.

"Weight gain occurs in up to 40 percent of patients taking medications called second-generation or atypical antipsychotics, which are used because they're effective in controlling the major symptoms of schizophrenia," Dr. James Kennedy, of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, in Toronto, said in a center news release.

Kennedy, senior author of a study published online recently in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, pinpointed a variation near the melanocortin-4 receptor gene, which is known to be linked to obesity.

The study of patients in Europe and the United States being treated with atypical antipsychotics found that those with two copies of the variant gained about three times as much weight as those with one or no copies -- about 13 pounds vs. 4 pounds.

"The weight gain was associated with this genetic variation in all these groups, which included pediatric patients with severe behavior or mood problems, and patients with schizophrenia experiencing a first episode or who did not respond to other antipsychotic treatments," Dr. Daniel Muller, study co-author and Center for Addiction and Mental Health scientist, said in the news release.

"The results from our genetic analysis combined with this diverse set of patients provide compelling evidence for the role of this

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Can Fertility Treatments Influence Later Breast Cancer Risk?

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Gut Bugs Might Influence Child's Odds for Obesity

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Pregnancy Length May Influence Severity of Autism

HealthDay – 1 hr 1 min ago FRIDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) -- Children with autism who were born either prematurely or several weeks late may experience more severe symptoms than kids with autism who were born on time, according to a new study.

These children also may be more likely to inflict self-injury, researchers found.

Although the reasons their symptoms are more severe remain unknown, the study suggested it may have something to do with what caused the children to be born before 36 weeks' gestation or after 42 weeks.

"With preterm and post-term babies, there is something underlying that is altering the genetic expression of autism," Tammy Movsas, a postdoctoral epidemiology fellow at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine, said in a university news release.

"The outside environment in which a preterm baby continues to mature is very different than the environment that the baby would have experienced in utero," she said. "This change in environment may be part of the reason why there is a difference in autistic severity in this set of infants."

The researchers examined an online database of 4,200 mothers with children with autism, ranging in age from 4 to 21 years. They grouped the children into one of four categories based on the timing of their birth: very preterm (fewer than 34 weeks' gestation), preterm (34 to 37 weeks), standard (37 to 42 weeks) and post-term (more than 42 weeks).

The mothers completed questionnaires about their child's symptoms. The study revealed very preterm, preterm and post-term children with autism had significantly more severe cases than children with autism who were born between 37 and 42 weeks gestation.

Although the study found a link between length of pregnancy and autism severity, it did not show a cause-and-effect relationship.

"Normal gestation age of birth seems to mitigate the severity of autism spectrum disorder symptoms, and the types of autistic traits tend to be different depending on age at birth," Movsas said.

For babies born late, the study's authors said prolonged exposure to hormones, higher rates of problems with the placenta and Cesarean section could play a role in the severity of a child's autism.

On the other hand, the study also revealed that very preterm babies show an increase in the mannerisms associated with autism.

Nigel Paneth, an epidemiologist at Michigan State, said that although autism has a strong genetic component, the findings indicate that something about pregnancy or the perinatal period may affect how autism manifests itself.

"This adds to our earlier finding that prematurity is a major risk factor for autism spectrum disorder and may help us understand if anything can be done during early life to prevent or alleviate autism spectrum disorder," he said in the news release.

The study was published online April 3 in the Journal of Autism and Development Disorders.

No one knows what causes autism. Other research published this week found that spontaneous genetic mutations and older fathers may influence a small number of autism cases.

According to recent figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 88 U.S. children has some form of the neurological disorder.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke provides more information on autism.

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