Taste Buds Dull As People Gain Weight. Now Scientists Think They Know Why
Doctors have known that as people pack on the pounds, their sense of taste diminishes. New research in mice helps explain what's going on: Inflammation brought on by obesity may be killing taste buds.
In Robin Dando's lab, several mice chowed down on a specialized diet designed to make them as fat as possible. "I can say the mice are happy. They love this unhealthy diet, and pretty fast they get pretty overweight," says Dando, an assistant professor of food science at Cornell University.
But the mice were not long for this world. Eight weeks after they started their delicious nosh, they were euthanized and their tongues were excised for direct comparisonskinnier brethren.
