Research shows humans can detect a sixth taste- FAT!

In Australia, Deakin University researchers have announced that humans are able to detect “fat”. They found that people with a high sensitivity to the taste of fat were less likely to be overweight since they tended to eat less fatty foods. The following section is taken from the recent published article in http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/:

“We know that the human tongue can detect five tastes – sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami (a taste for identifying protein rich foods). Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste – fat.”

They found that people have a taste threshold for fat and that these thresholds vary from person to person; some people have a high sensitivity to the taste while others do not.

“With fats being easily accessible and commonly consumed in diets today, this suggests that our taste system may become desensitised to the taste of fat over time, leaving some people more susceptible to overeating fatty foods.We are now interested in understanding why some people are sensitive and others are not, which we believe will lead to ways of helping people lower their fat intakes and aide development of new low fat foods and diets.”

Could this discovery open more doors to the treatment of obesity? Time will tell…