Abstract
Sweet taste perception is a key factor in the establishment of the food pattern with nonstatic thresholds. Indeed, taste sensitivity can be influenced by physiological factors (age and sex), pathologies (obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus), and acquired habits (tobacco and alcohol consumption). In order to elucidate how these variables influence the sucrose detection threshold (DT) and recognition threshold (RT), a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relevant literature were performed. After a comprehensive search in the PubMed and Scopus databases, a total of 48 studies were qualitatively considered, and 44 were meta-analyzed. The factors of aging (standard mean difference [SMD]: -0.46; 95% confidence interval (CI), -0.74 to -0.19; I2 : 73%; Tau2 : 0.18) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (SMD: 0.30; 95% CI, 0.06 to 0.55; I2 : 0%; Tau2 : 0.00) were found to significantly increase the sucrose RT, whereas the DT only increased in subjects with a higher body mass index (SMD: 0.58; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.82; I2 : 0%; Tau2 : 0.00). No effects of sex and tobacco smoking were found, and associations with alcohol consumption could not be assessed, as it was included as a variable in only one study. Feasible mechanisms underlying changes in sucrose thresholds include the modulation of hormones involved in energy and body weight homeostasis, taste bud abundance, taste brain signaling, and the gut-brain axis. The present work provides insights into the variables that should be considered when assessing sweet taste sensitivity, discusses the mechanisms underlying differences in sweet taste, and highlights the need for further research in the field of personalized nutrition.
Highlights
IntroductionChemosensory perception (taste, smell, and chemesthesis) is essential for individual and species survival (Hawkes, 2001)
Chemosensory perception is essential for individual and species survival (Hawkes, 2001)
The two taste receptors (TRs) that are responsible for sweet taste stimulus detection and ligand selectivity, taste 1 receptor member 2 (T1R2) and taste 1 receptor member 3 (T1R3), belong to the G proteincoupled receptor family (Adler et al, 2000; Hoon et al, 1999; Matsunami, Montmayeur, & Buck, 2000)
Summary
Chemosensory perception (taste, smell, and chemesthesis) is essential for individual and species survival (Hawkes, 2001). Sweetness response is triggered in the T1R2/T1R3 heterodimer (Nelson et al, 2001) and sucrose appears to bind to the Venus flytrap domain of T1R2/T1R3 (Chandrashekar, Hoon, Ryba, & Zuker, 2006). Sweet taste allows the identification of high-energy nutrients and, in general terms, indicates the presence of soluble carbohydrates. A wide diversity of noncarbohydrate molecules, such as D-amino acids (e.g., D-phenylalanine, D-alanine, and Dserine) (Chandrashekar et al, 2006) and sweet testing proteins (e.g., monellin, thaumatin, curcullin, and brazzein), or noncaloric molecules such as artificial sweeteners (e.g., saccharine, sucralose, and aspartame) (Jiang et al, 2005) are sweet as a consequence of interaction with T1R2 and T1R3 (Gamble, 2017; Lindemann, 2001)
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