In a new study, researchers found sugar causes obesity even in the absence of its sweet taste.
The finding also uncovered an increased risk of metabolic syndrome (increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol).
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Colorado.
More than 40% of adults in the U.S. are obese, according to the most recent data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The success of the study was made possible in part due to mice that lack taste signaling but maintain sweet receptors in the gut.
These “taste-blind” mice do not transfer taste information from the taste buds to the taste nerves.
In the study, the researchers reported three additional key findings in their study:
Taste-blind mice showed a preference and appetite for sugar regardless of not being able to taste its sweetness.
This shows sugar can induce preference or craving through other mechanisms besides its sweet properties.
Mice that were unable to metabolize fructose showed no appetite for any sugar, such as sucrose and high fructose corn syrup.
Taste-blind mice with a high sugar intake developed obesity and metabolic syndrome, suggesting sugar can induce metabolic disease independent of its sweet properties.
The findings suggest targeting fructokinase, the enzyme involved in fructose metabolism, to prevent or even treat sugar-induced metabolic syndrome, while at the same time reducing our appetite for sugar.
One author of the study is Miguel Lanaspa Garcia, Ph.D.
The study is published in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism.
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