USE OF TASTANTS IN WEIGHT REDUCTION
AR Hirsch1. 1Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation.
Background: Excess weight is a risk factor for myriad illnesses including diabetes and cerebrovascular disease. Despite its ubiquity, treatment is, for the most part, ineffective and focuses on conscious, draconian self-deprivation efforts including portion control, fasting, hedonic sacrifice, or initiation of a rigorous, often painful, exercise program. Chemosensory modification to induce weight loss has used both aversive and nonaversive olfactory and hedonically positive gustatory stimuli.
Hypothesis: Noncaloric tastant crystals added to food enhance gustatory evoked satiety, reducing consumption, as manifest by weight loss.
Methods: Over a six-month period, the overweight or obese subjects sprinkled a variety of savory or sweet tastant crystals onto their food prior to mandiculation. Pre and post study weights were obtained and compared to one hundred nontreated controls.
Results: One thousand four hundred and thirty-six patients (87.4% female, 12.6% male) with an average initial weight of 208 pounds, and BMI of 34.2, completed this study. The average weight loss was 30.5 pounds, 5.0 BMI, versus control of 2 pounds, 0.3 BMI (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Use of tastants to enhance or generalize sensory specific satiety demonstrated efficacy in the promotion of weight loss. Further investigation into this approach on the secondary effects of obesity (i.e., hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, hypertension) is warranted.
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