A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Philadelphia's Monell Center has found that obese women who smoke cigarettes may have reduced sensitivity to the tastes of sweetness and fat in food and may be more likely to eat more calories.
Researchers engaged 47 female participants ages 21 to 41, grouped as follows: obese smokers, obese nonsmokers, normal-weight smokers, and normal-weight nonsmokers. All of the participants tasted vanilla puddings and were asked to rate the sweetness and creaminess of each one. The researchers found that the women who were obese and smokers rated less creaminess and sweetness in the puddings than the other three groups did.
From a release:
[Study author Yanina Pepino, PhD,] cautioned that the study only identified associations between smoking and taste rather than definitive reasons why obese smokers were less likely to detect fat and sweetness. But the findings imply that the ability to perceive fat and sweetness — and to derive pleasure from food — is compromised in female smokers who are obese, which could contribute to the consumption of more calories.
"Obese people often crave high-fat foods," she said. "Our findings suggest that having this intense craving but not perceiving fat and sweetness in food may lead these women to eat more. Since smoking and obesity are risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, the additional burden of craving more fats and sugars, while not fully tasting them, could be detrimental to health."
The results were published in the journal Obesity.
Previously: Obesity is a disease – so now what?, How eating motivated by pleasure affects the brain’s reward system and may fuel obesity and The brain’s control tower for pleasure
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