Everyone has their dietary vices, especially when it comes to foods that you know are bad for you, but just tastes so good. However, different people find joy in different kinds of junk. You might be inclined to a caramel doughnut every now and then, whilst your friend may prefer to grab a bag of salt and vinegar crisps, but, as it’s all bad for you, your taste preferences don’t matter right?
Unfortunately, if your taste buds do tingle for something sweet, your wellbeing could be more at risk of serious health concerns. A study the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has found that if you have a super sweet tooth and a high aversion against bitter flavours, your more likely to develop metabolic syndrome, increasing your risk for type 2 diabetes, as well as stroke and coronary artery disease.
For the study, which was published in the Journal of Food Science, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill looked at how two tasting profiles, known as sweet likers (SL) and supertasters (ST), interact and affect your dietary intake and health, particularly with regard to metabolic syndrome. This syndrome is a term for a group of risk factors that increase your chances of developing certain life-threatening diseases.
When it came to analysing the results, the team of researchers found that if you have both of the two taste profiles or neither taste profiles, you are more likely to have an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. However, people who are only an SL or an ST are less likely to develop the syndrome.
The scientists also discovered that the interaction between the two taste profiles was significantly linked to your intake of fibre and beverages. This suggests that not only do your tasting patterns have an effect on your risk of certain diseases, they may also influence your dietary intake.
Before you throw away the tub of ice-cream in your freezer, bear in mind that the researchers concluded by saying that more research needs to be done in exploration of testing these tasting profiles. However, they added that they hope this further research can help doctors to tailor dietary interventions to prevent and treat metabolic syndrome.
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You are What You Taste: Can Your Sweet Tooth Cause Diabetes?
