What's Taste Got To Do With It? Recent Research Suggests Wanting Sugar and Fat is Independent of Taste

The People's Scientist

A recent study by Li and colleague coming from the Charles Zuker lab suggests that the wanting of sugar and fat has to do with a specific population of cells within the vagus nerve that responds to sugar or fat to activate my favorite brain region, the nucleus of the tracts solitarius (nTS). This was independent of taste in the mouth and smell from the olfactory epithelium. These findings can explain why we still enjoyed consuming sweet and fatty foods with the lost of taste from COVID and other viruses. Can we use this information to help regulate sugar and fatty food cravings? Tune in to find out more.

Main Reference: Li et al. Gut Brain Axis For Fat Preference. Nature. 2022; 610:722.

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