Taste perception, associated hormonal modulation, and nutrient intake

Abstract

It is well known that taste perception influences food intake. After ingestion, gustatory receptors relay sensory signals to the brain, which segregates, evaluates, and distinguishes the stimuli, leading to the experience known as "flavor." It is well accepted that five taste qualities – sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami – can be perceived by animals. In this review, the anatomy and physiology of human taste buds, the hormonal modulation of taste function, the importance of genetic chemosensory variation, and the influence of gustatory functioning on macronutrient selection and eating behavior are discussed. Individual genotypic variation results in specific phenotypes of food preference and nutrient intake. Understanding the role of taste in food selection and ingestive behavior is important for expanding our understanding of the factors involved in body weight maintenance and the risk of chronic diseases including obesity, atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, liver disease, and hypertension.

Keywords: chemosensation; gustatory system; taste perception.

Figure 1

Illustration of a taste bud. A taste bud is composed of taste receptor cells, embedded into the lingual epithelia. Gustatory transduction takes place in taste receptor cells that lie in taste buds, which are located predominantly on the tongue and soft palate. Taste receptor cells are small bipolar cells with no axon. The taste receptors are located on microvilli at the apical surface of taste receptor cells. These microvilli gain access to the oral cavity through a taste pore.