Sweet, Salty, and Umami Taste Sensitivity and the Hedonic Perception of Taste Sensations in Adolescent Females with Anorexia Nervosa (original) (raw)
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Taste sensitivity in anorexia nervosa: A systematic review
International Journal of Eating Disorders
Objective: There is evidence for altered processing of taste in anorexia nervosa, particularly in the areas of reward processing and hedonic sensitivity. However, research on whether people with anorexia nervosa identify taste stimuli accurately, known as taste sensitivity, has yielded mixed findings. The objective of this study was to synthesize the literature on taste sensitivity in this disorder to provide a basis for future discussion on whether altered taste sensitivity may be also implicated in wider atypical taste processing in anorexia. Method: Electronic databases were searched systematically to identify published research examining taste sensitivity in anorexia. Search terms were "anorexia nervosa", or "eating disorder", combined with "taste". 18 studies met inclusion criteria. Results: The review of the findings suggest that individuals with AN may experience reduced taste sensitivity that may improve following recovery. However, there was a significant variability in results across studies, potentially reflecting methodological problems including low sample sizes, experimental designs, and uncontrolled confounding variables. Discussion: This review suggests that altered taste sensitivity could represent a component in the wider altered taste processing observed in anorexia nervosa. However, the heterogeneity of findings highlight the need for future research to consider methodological issues raised by this review. Resumen Objetivo: Existe evidencia de una alteraci on en el procesamiento del gusto en la anorexia nervosa, particularmente en areas del procesamiento de la recompensa y la sensibilidad hed onica. Sin embargo, la investigaci on sobre si las personas con anorexia nervosa identifican los estímulos del gusto con precisi on, conocida como sensibilidad del gusto, ha arrojado resultados mixtos. El objetivo de este estudio fue sintetizar la literatura sobre la sensibilidad del gusto en este trastorno para proporcionar una base para la discusi on futura sobre si la sensibilidad al gusto alterada puede estar implicada tambi en en el procesamiento atípico, m as amplio, en la anorexia. M etodo: Se realiz o una b usqueda sistem atica en bases de datos electr onicas para identificar investigaciones publicadas que examinaron la sensibilidad del gusto en la anorexia. Los t erminos de b usqueda fueron "anorexia nervosa" o "trastorno alimentario", combinados con "gusto". Un total de 18 estudios cumplieron los criterios de inclusi on. Resultados: la revisi on de los hallazgos sugiere que las personas con AN experimentaron una sensibilidad del gusto reducida que puede mejorar despu es de la recuperaci on. Sin embargo, hubo una variabilidad significativa en los resultados entre los estudios, lo que podría reflejar problemas metodol ogicos que incluyen tamaños de muestra pequeños, diseños experimentales y variables de confusi on no controladas.
Assessment of fat taste in individuals with and without anorexia nervosa
The International journal of eating disorders, 2014
Avoidance of dietary fat is a highly characteristic eating behavior of individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). To date, no study has determined whether these individuals are better able to perceive the fat content of foods than individuals without AN. The goal of this study was to compare blinded taste ratings of fat-free, low fat, and regular cream cheese in patients with AN and in normal controls (NC). AN (n = 25) and control (NC; n = 25) participants were presented with a series of nine cream cheese samples of three differing fat contents and asked to taste and rate each sample from very low to very high fat. Repeated measures ANOVA found no significant main effect of fat content and no interaction between fat content and diagnosis; however, a significant three-way interaction between fat content, diagnosis, and trial was observed. Post hoc analysis revealed a significant fat content by trial interaction within the AN group, suggesting a significant trial effect for the fat-free ...
A Systematic Review of Taste Differences Among People With Eating Disorders
Biological Research For Nursing, 2019
Background: Eating disorders are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The etiology and maintenance of eating-disorder symptoms are not well understood. Evidence suggests that there may be gustatory alterations in patients with eating disorders. Objective: This article systematically reviews research assessing gustatory differences in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED). Method: A systematic review was performed, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, examining taste and eating disorders. We reviewed electronic databases and identified 1,490 peer-reviewed English-language studies. Of these, 49 met inclusion criteria. Results: Studies employed psychophysical measures ( n = 27), self-reported questionnaires ( n = 5), and neuroimaging techniques (i.e., electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging; n = 17). Psychophysical studies showed that individuals wit...
Neuropsychopharmacology, 2008
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an illness characterized by aversion to ingestion of normally palatable foods. We examined whether there is a primary disturbance of taste processing and experience of pleasure using a sucrose/water task in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). To avoid confounding effects of illness, 16 women recovered from restricting-type AN were compared to 16 control women (CW). We used a region of interest-based fMRI approach to test the idea that individuals with AN have differential neural activation in primary and secondary taste cortical regions after sucrose and water administration. Compared to CW, individuals recovered from AN showed a significantly lower neural activation of the insula, including the primary cortical taste region, and ventral and dorsal striatum to both sucrose and water. In addition, insular neural activity correlated with pleasantness ratings for sucrose in CW, but not in AN subjects. Altered taste processing may occur in AN, based on differences in activity in insular-striatal circuits. These data provide the first evidence that individuals with AN process taste stimuli differently than controls, based on differences in neural activation patterns.
Intact sensory function in anorexia nervosa
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2011
Background: In anorexia nervosa (AN), taste and smell are believed to be anhedonic, hunger and pain are muted, and body-image distortion obscures wasting, which together facilitate self-starvation. However, the emphasis on these deficits may be biased because other sensory systems have been sparsely investigated. Objectives: Objectives of the study were to clarify whether these dysfunctions are specific or part of a pattern of sensory-perceptual deficits in AN patients and to test the gustatory senses dissociated from ingestion to clarify whether any deficit is sensory or affective. Design: In 15 adolescent, first-episode, hospitalized, restrictive AN patients and 15 matched healthy controls who responded to gustatory stimuli (intensity and hedonics of 5 basic tastes and tastes and odors of foods and nonfoods), size estimation (manual and oral judgment of size and shape, kinesthesia, and body size and esthetics), cold pain, and auditory and visual processing were compared. Results: AN patients did not differ on most tests, were better at odor recognition, were less successful in central auditory processing and oral assessment of size and shape, and may have been more sensitive to cold. Body-image dissatisfaction in AN patients was not related to dysfunctional size estimation. Conclusions: There is no systematic sensory-perceptual deficit in AN patients, and specifically, not in gustatory function. The few differences shown might be due to fear of food-related stimuli or comorbidity.
Psychiatry Research, 2010
Although patients with anorexia nervosa have been suggested to be anhedonic, few experiments have directly measured their sensory pleasure for a range of food and non-food stimuli. This study aimed to examine whether restrictive anorexia nervosa (AN-R) patients displayed: i) a generalized decline in sensory pleasure or only in food-related sensory pleasure; ii) a modification of hedonic responses to food cues (liking) and of the desire to eat foods (wanting) as a function of their motivational state (hunger vs. satiety) and energy density of foods (high vs. low). Forty-six female participants (AN-R n = 17; healthy controls (HC) n = 29) reported before/after lunch their pleasure for pictures/odorants representing foods of different energy density and non-food objects. They also reported their desire to eat the foods evoked by the sensory stimuli, and completed the Physical Anhedonia Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. AN-R and HC participants did not differ on liking ratings when exposed to low energy-density food or to non-food stimuli. The two groups also had similar physical anhedonia scores. However, compared to HC, AN-R reported lower liking ratings for high energy food pictures regardless of their motivational state. Olfactory pleasure was reduced only during the pre-prandial state in the AN-R group. The wanting ratings showed a distinct pattern since AN-R participants reported less desire to eat the foods representing both low and high energy densities, but the effect was restricted to the pre-prandial state. Taken together these results reflect more the influence of core symptoms in anorexia nervosa (fear of gaining weight) than an overall inability to experience pleasure.
Intact sensory function in anorexia nervosa1,3
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012
Background: In anorexia nervosa (AN), taste and smell are believed to be anhedonic, hunger and pain are muted, and body-image distortion obscures wasting, which together facilitate self-starvation. However, the emphasis on these deficits may be biased because other sensory systems have been sparsely investigated. Objectives: Objectives of the study were to clarify whether these dysfunctions are specific or part of a pattern of sensory-perceptual deficits in AN patients and to test the gustatory senses dissociated from ingestion to clarify whether any deficit is sensory or affective. Design: In 15 adolescent, first-episode, hospitalized, restrictive AN patients and 15 matched healthy controls who responded to gustatory stimuli (intensity and hedonics of 5 basic tastes and tastes and odors of foods and nonfoods), size estimation (manual and oral judgment of size and shape, kinesthesia, and body size and esthetics), cold pain, and auditory and visual processing were compared. Results: AN patients did not differ on most tests, were better at odor recognition, were less successful in central auditory processing and oral assessment of size and shape, and may have been more sensitive to cold. Body-image dissatisfaction in AN patients was not related to dysfunctional size estimation. Conclusions: There is no systematic sensory-perceptual deficit in AN patients, and specifically, not in gustatory function. The few differences shown might be due to fear of food-related stimuli or comorbidity.
Subjective experience of sensation in anorexia nervosa
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2013
The nature of disturbance in body experience in anorexia nervosa (AN) remains poorly operationalized despite its prognostic significance. We examined the relationship of subjective reports of sensitivity to and behavioral avoidance of sensory experience (e.g., to touch, motion) to body image disturbance and temperament in adult women currently diagnosed with AN (n=20), women with a prior history of AN who were weight restored (n=15), and healthy controls with no eating disorder history (n=24). Levels of sensitivity to sensation and attempts to avoid sensory experience were significantly higher in both clinical groups relative to healthy controls. Sensory sensitivity was associated with body image disturbance (r(56) = .51, p < .0001), indicating that body image disturbance increased with increased global sensitivity to sensation. Sensory sensitivity was also negatively and significantly correlated with lowest BMI (r 2 = −.32, p < .001), but not current BMI (r 2 = .03, p = .18), and to the temperament feature of harm avoidance in both clinical groups. We discuss how intervention strategies that address sensitization and habituation to somatic experience via conditioning exercises may provide a new manner in which to address body image disturbance in AN.