Sensory-specific satiety: the relationship between perceived taste and quantity consumed of food.
As individuals consume more of a food item, they experience diminishing marginal taste perception, which means their level of perceived taste from additional consumption tends to decline (additional consumption becomes less pleasurable). The first bite of chocolate is better than the 10th.
In this study, researchers found that ratings went down after each piece of chocolate consumed with no significant difference in taste perceptions between normal and overweight participants reported. However, participants with obesity had higher levels of initial taste perception, rated subsequent pieces higher than their counterparts without obesity, and their ratings declined at a more gradual rate compared to participants with normal weight and those with obesity.
There is no significant difference in the actual taste perceptions, between those of normal weight and those who are overweight. However, participants with obesity have a greater initial satisfaction from food, which then decreases more gradually. To me, this suggests a significant pleasure or hedonic component to food, consistent with an addiction model of obesity.
Variations in Marginal Taste Perception by Body Mass Index Classification: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2019.
The experts in processed food addiction in Big Food often manipulate sensory-specific satiety to increase product sales.
It’s the explanation for the phenomenon of “I’m too stuffed to eat another bite. What’s for dessert?” or the 1960’s Lay’s advert “Betcha can’t eat just one!” in which you would eat the whole can of chips.
Fat is more than an issue of appearance. Fat can lead to multiple chronic illnesses, and obesity is by far the greatest risk factor contributing to the burden of chronic diseases in the U.S. Obesity increases insulin resistance, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Further, obesity lowers HDL cholesterol and places the body in a pro-inflammatory state.
Fat retention in the body is detrimental because fat cells networked together act as an endocrine organ. These endocrine secretions preserve and promote tumor progression, increasing the host’s consumption of nutrients. If you suddenly developed a large tumor in your right arm, you would likely pay attention to it. A tumor is merely a word that describes “swelling” and is further defined as “a swelling of a part of the body, generally without inflammation, caused by an abnormal growth of tissue, whether benign or malignant.” Think of fat as a tumor that is also an unregulated endocrine organ, and yourself as the host of this parasitic swelling.
Type 2 diabetes, with all of its excessive insulin levels, can also be thought of as signaling peptides promoting fat tumor production.
My point is not to create anorexics, but to have clinicians and patients recognize the significance of fat as more than an issue of appearance. Fat is metabolically active and is self-preserving.