ORAL FAT TASTE SENSITIVITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF OBESITY IN MOROCCAN ADULT SUBJECTS

Background and objectives: In recent decades the prevalence of obesity is become an alarming threat for human health. In 2014 about 13% of the world's adult population was obese and 39% was overweight (World Health Organization). In 2011, 10.3 million adult Moroccans were overweight; 3.6 million were obese (National Survey on Anthropometry). It is known that fats properties including olfactory, visual and textural cues play a significant role in their attractiveness. Nonetheless developing proofs think also of "Fat Taste" as a sixth taste besides the previous five basic taste modalities: sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami; that could participate in their palatability. The aim of our project is to investigate whether an alteration of oro-gustatory detection of lipids is associated to high fat intake and then to the development of obesity among adult Moroccan people. Methods: Till now a total of 80 adult subjects (age ≥ 20 years) were recruited and all anthropometric measures were taken to classify them into obese and control groups. Participants were also exposed to oral fat test using emulsions containing food-grade oleic acid (OA), at ascending concentrations (0.018, 0.18, 0.37, 0.75, 1.5, 3, 6 and 12 mmol / L) via three-alternative forced choice (3-AFC) method, in order to compare the detection thresholds and the sensitivity to fatty acids between the two groups. Results: The average BMI (Body Mass Index) and fat content for obese were respectively 37.84kg/m2 and 40.94% and those of control were 22.26kg/m2 and 25.00%. Obese participants exhibit high thresholds for OA oral detection (3.87mmol/l) than control (0.17mmol/l). The subjects were classified into 4categories: Non Tasters (all of them belong to obese group), High Tasters (from control subjects only), Middle Tasters (from the both groups) and Low Tasters (predominated by obese group). Conclusions: Fatty acid taste sensitivity can lead to high dietary fat intake and consequently to the development of obesity.