title: Molecular mechanisms of fat preference and overeating.
abstract: Obesity is recognized as a worldwide health problem. Overconsumption of fatty foods contributes significantly to this phenomenon. Rodents, like humans, display preferences for lipid-rich foods. Rodents thus provide useful models to explore the mechanisms responsible for this complex feeding behavior resulting from the integration of multiple oral and postoral signals. Over the last decades, the lipid-mediated regulation of food intake has received considerable attention. By contrast, orosensory lipid perception was long thought to involve only textural and olfactory cues. Recent findings have challenged this limited viewpoint. These recent data strongly suggest that the sense of taste also plays significant roles in the spontaneous preference for fatty foods. This paper provides a brief overview of postoral regulation of food intake by lipids and then highlights recent data suggesting the existence of a "fatty taste" which might contribute to lipid overeating and hence to the risk of obesity.
authors.affiliation: Physiologie de la Nutrition, UMR INSERM U866, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Biologie Appliquée à la Nutrition et à l'Alimentation (ENSBANA), Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France.
authors.forename: Dany
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Passilly-Degrace
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Besnard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000503:physiopathology; D018955:CD36 Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006728:Hormones / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu / Q000502:physiology; D012527:Satiation / Q000502:physiology; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018955:CD36 Antigens; D004041:Dietary Fats; D006728:Hormones; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu; D004298:Dopamine