Department of Computer Languages and Systems, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2019 Jun 1;109(6):1709-1723. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqz038.
The relation between taste perception, diet, and adiposity remains controversial. Additionally, there is a lack of knowledge on the polymorphisms influencing taste given the scarcity of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) published.
We studied the relation between perception of the basic tastes, i.e., sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami (separately and jointly in a "taste score"), and anthropometric measurements in older subjects with metabolic syndrome (MetS). GWASs were undertaken to identify genes associated with basic tastes and their score.
Taste perception was cross-sectionally determined by challenging subjects (381 older individuals with MetS) with solutions (5 concentrations) of the basic tastes with the use of standard prototypical tastants (phenylthiocarbamide and 6-n-propylthiouracil, NaCl, sucrose, monopotassium glutamate, and citric acid, for bitter, salt, sweet, umami, and sour, respectively). Taste perception intensities were expressed on a scale. A total taste score was derived.
The total taste score was inversely associated with body weight, body mass index, and waist circumference (P < 0.05). Subjects having a total taste score higher than or equal to the median (11 points for concentration V) were less likely to be classified as obese than subjects below the median (OR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.59; P < 0.001). Associations were similar, albeit less strong, for some taste qualities. In the GWASs, the highest associations were for bitter taste (rs1726866-TAS2R38, with P = 7.74 × 10-18 for phenylthiocarbamide and P = 3.96 × 10-19 for 6-n-propylthiouracil). For other tastes, several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) exceeded the P threshold of 1 × 10-5. However, the top-ranked SNPs independently explained a low percentage of taste variability, hence their use as single proxies for the association between taste perception and adiposity is limited.
We found a strong inverse association between greater taste perception and body weight, body mass index, and waist circumference in older subjects with MetS and identified some taste-related SNPs. It would be advantageous to identify additional genetic proxies for taste and to develop polygenic scores. Data used in this study were derived from the clinical trial PREDIMED PLUS at baseline, registered at http://www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN89898870.
味觉感知、饮食和肥胖之间的关系仍然存在争议。此外，由于发表的全基因组关联研究 (GWAS) 很少，因此对于影响味觉的多态性知之甚少。
我们研究了味觉感知与代谢综合征 (MetS) 老年受试者的人体测量学指标之间的关系，味觉感知包括对基本味觉（即甜、咸、苦、酸和鲜味）的感知（单独和联合在“味觉评分”中）。进行 GWAS 以确定与基本味觉及其评分相关的基因。
使用标准原型味觉剂（苯硫脲和 6-正丙基硫脲、NaCl、蔗糖、单谷氨酸钾和柠檬酸，分别用于苦味、盐味、甜味、鲜味和酸味），通过对 381 名患有 MetS 的老年人进行基本味觉（5 种浓度）溶液的挑战，来确定味觉感知。味觉感知强度在量表上表示。得出总的味觉评分。
总的味觉评分与体重、体重指数和腰围呈负相关（P<0.05）。味觉评分总分高于或等于中位数（V 浓度为 11 分）的受试者比总分低于中位数的受试者更不可能被归类为肥胖（OR：0.36；95%CI：0.22，0.59；P<0.001）。对于某些味觉质量，关联虽然较弱，但相似。在 GWAS 中，苦味的关联最高（rs1726866-TAS2R38，苯硫脲的 P=7.74×10-18，6-正丙基硫脲的 P=3.96×10-19）。对于其他味道，有几个单核苷酸多态性（SNP）超过了 1×10-5 的 P 值阈值。然而，排名最高的 SNP 仅解释了味觉变异性的一小部分，因此它们作为味觉感知与肥胖之间关联的单一替代物的使用是有限的。
我们发现，在患有 MetS 的老年受试者中，较强的味觉感知与体重、体重指数和腰围呈强烈负相关，并确定了一些与味觉相关的 SNP。鉴定其他味觉遗传替代物并开发多基因评分将是有益的。本研究中使用的数据来自 PREDIMED PLUS 临床试验的基线，在 http://www.isrctn.com 注册为 ISRCTN89898870。
