Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Newton, MA, USA.
Circadian Positioning Systems, Newport, RI, USA.
Physiol Behav. 2020 Jul 1;221:112897. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112897. Epub 2020 Apr 4.
Research examining connections between BMI and smell and taste sensitivity in adolescents has been minimal, methodologically inconsistent, and inconclusive. We sought to address this issue with an exploratory study of smell and taste sensitivity in overweight-obese (high BMI) and normal BMI male and female adolescents (ages 12-16 years), using previously validated chemosensory testing measures (Sniffin' Sticks, Taste Strips, 6-n-propylthiouracil: PROP), and taking pubertal stage into account. Puberty was evaluated with the validated Pubertal Development Scale and participants were then classified as either "early" or "late" pubertal stage. We used the phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) version of the Sniffin' Sticks olfactory threshold test and found that high BMI adolescents had significantly greater olfactory sensitivity than normal BMI adolescents. This observation contradicts previous results in overweight adults tested with the n-butanol version of Sniffin' Sticks. We also found that participants in early puberty had significantly higher olfactory sensitivity than participants in late puberty. No significant findings for taste sensitivity were obtained, though there is a suggestion that puberty may affect salty taste thresholds. Our results illuminate a potentially important difference in sensitivity to pure olfactory versus olfactory-trigeminal stimuli as a function of BMI, which the PEA and n-butanol versions of the Sniffin' Sticks respectively assess; and for the first time demonstrate variation in chemosensory acuity in relation to pubertal stage. These findings have implications for eating behavior during adolescence.
研究检查青少年 BMI 与嗅觉和味觉敏感性之间的联系的工作还很少，方法上也不一致，而且没有定论。我们试图通过对超重肥胖（高 BMI）和正常 BMI 的男性和女性青少年（12-16 岁）的嗅觉和味觉敏感性进行探索性研究来解决这个问题，使用先前验证过的化学感觉测试方法（Sniffin' Sticks、Taste Strips、6-n-丙基硫氧嘧啶：PROP），并考虑到青春期阶段。青春期通过经过验证的青春期发育量表进行评估，然后根据青春期发育阶段将参与者分为“早期”或“晚期”。我们使用苯乙醇（PEA）版本的 Sniffin' Sticks 嗅觉阈值测试，发现高 BMI 青少年的嗅觉敏感性明显高于正常 BMI 青少年。这一观察结果与之前使用 Sniffin' Sticks 的正丁醇版本测试超重成年人的结果相反。我们还发现，早期青春期的参与者的嗅觉敏感性明显高于晚期青春期的参与者。味觉敏感性没有得到显著发现，尽管有迹象表明青春期可能会影响咸味觉阈值。我们的研究结果阐明了 BMI 作为函数的情况下，纯嗅觉与嗅觉-三叉神经刺激敏感性之间的差异，Sniffin' Sticks 的 PEA 和正丁醇版本分别评估了这一点；并且首次证明了与青春期阶段相关的化学感觉敏锐度的变化。这些发现对青少年时期的饮食行为有影响。
