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脂肪の味に敏感でないことが,肥満の原因の一つになっているらしい。人間は甘味,酸味,塩味,苦味,うまみの5つの味を感知できるとされているが,オーストラリアを中心とした研究班は,脂肪の味を感じ取る第6の味覚を発見した。脂肪の味をどれほど敏感に感じるかは人それぞれで,敏感な人ほど脂肪の多い食品をあまり食べず,肥満の程度を表すボディマス指数(BMI)が低かった。どうしてこのような個人差が生じるか解明できれば,脂肪の摂取量を減らす新しい方法や低脂肪食品の開発につながるかもしれない。(吉田素子)
A newly discovered ability for people to taste fat could hold the key to(1) reducing obesity(2), Deakin University health researchers(3) believe.
Deakin researchers Dr Russell Keast and PhD student(4) Jessica Stewart, working with colleagues(5) at the University of Adelaide, CSIRO(6), and Massey University (New Zealand), have found that humans can detect(7) a sixth taste -- fat. They also found that people with a high sensitivity(8) to the taste of fat tended to(9) eat less fatty(10) foods and were less likely to(11) be overweight(12). The results of their research are published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Nutrition(13).
“Our findings build on(14) previous research in the United States that used animal models(15) to discover fat taste,” Dr Keast said.
“We know that the human tongue can detect five tastes -- sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami(16) (a taste for identifying protein rich(17) foods). Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste -- fat.”
The research team developed a screening(18) procedure to test the ability of people to taste a range of(19) fatty acids(20) commonly(21) found in foods.
They found that people have a taste threshold(22) for fat and that these thresholds vary from person to person(23); some people have a high sensitivity to the taste while others do not.
“Interestingly, we also found that those with a high sensitivity to the taste of fat consumed(24) less fatty foods and had lower BMIs(25) than those with lower sensitivity,” Dr Keast said.
(1) ~の鍵を握る (2) 肥満 (3) 研究者 (4) 博士課程の学生 (5) 研究仲間
(6) オーストラリア連邦科学産業研究機構 (7) 感知する (8) 感受性 (9) ~する傾向があった
(10) 脂肪の多い (11) ~する可能性が低かった (12) 過体重の
(13) 栄養学(British Journal of Nutritionは雑誌名) (14) ~に基づいている (15) 動物モデル
(16) うまみ (17) 高タンパク質の (18) スクリーニング(ふるい分け) (19) 様々な (20) 脂肪酸
(21) 一般に (22) 閾値 (23) 人によって (24) 摂取した (25) ボディマス指数