Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jun 1:113:239-245.
doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2017.02.034. Epub 2017 Feb 24.

Taste assessment in normal weight and overweight individuals with co-occurring Binge Eating Disorder

Jean M Arlt  1 , Gregory S Smutzer  2 , Eunice Y Chen  3
Affiliations

Taste assessment in normal weight and overweight individuals with co-occurring Binge Eating Disorder

Jean M Arlt et al. Appetite. .

Abstract

Background: Taste perception influences food choice, and may contribute to both weight status and disordered eating. Relatively little work has attempted to disentangle contributions of weight status and Binge Eating Disorder (BED) to human taste perception. We predicted weight status and BED would interact, showing difference in taste perception from non-eating disorder matched groups.

Methods: The four study groups included: normal weight BED (NW BED), normal weight healthy controls (NW HC), overweight BED (OW BED), and overweight healthy controls (OW HC) (N = 60). Groups were matched for age (±5 years), ethnicity, and weight status. Participants were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, the Eating Disorder Examination Version 16.0, and the NIH Toolbox Gustatory Assessment with additional taste solutions and taste stimulus delivered with edible taste strips.

Results: Interactions were found between weight status and diagnosis on measures of regional taste intensity for quinine hydrochloride (CI 95% [44.61, 56.31], p = 0.018), sucrose (CI 95% [46.79, 56.45], p = 0.003), and 6-n-propylthiouracil (CI 95% [25.557, 39.269], p = 0.015). OW BED participants perceived these taste stimuli significantly less intensely than OW HC and NW BED. Whole mouth taste intensity tests at suprathreshold amounts did not reveal group differences. All four groups reported similar hedonic response to taste stimuli. Edible taste strips had medium to large significant correlations with NIH Gustatory Assessment taste stimuli.

Conclusions: There were significant differences in the taste perception of OW BED relative to the other three groups. These findings may provide partial explanation as to why previous studies correlating taste and weight status have mixed results. Replication in larger samples assessed longitudinally is needed to extend this work.

Keywords: Binge Eating Disorder; NIH Gustatory Assessment; Obesity; Taste sensitivity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest:

Eunice Y. Chen, Ph.D. discloses annual royalties from Guilford Press, and has consulted to Shire Pharmaceuticals in the last three years. All other authors declare no potential conflict of interest with the current work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Regional Taste Intensity Mean ratings for quinine hydrochloride (HCI), sucrose, and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP); gLMS = general Labeled Magnitude Scale, HC = Healthy Control, BED = Binge Eating Disorder
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association. DSM 5. American Psychiatric Association; 2013.
    1. Avena NM. The study of food addiction using animal models of binge eating. Appetite. 2010;55(3):734–737. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barbosa DEC, de Souza VR, dos Santos LAS, de Jesus Chiappini CC, de Sa SA, de Azeredo VB. Changes in Taste and Food Intake during the Menstrual Cycle. Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences. 2015;2015
    1. Bartoshuk LM. Bitter taste of saccharin related to the genetic ability to taste the bitter substance 6-n-propylthiouracil. Science. 1979;205(4409):934–935. - PubMed
    1. Bartoshuk LM, Duffy VB, Green BG, Hoffman HJ, Ko CW, Lucchina LA, … Weiffenbach JM. Valid across-group comparisons with labeled scales: the gLMS versus magnitude matching. Physiology & behavior. 2004;82(1):109–114. - PubMed

Publication types