Taste perception and oral microbiota are associated with obesity in children and adolescents

• Published in: PloS one 2019-09, Vol.14 (9), p.e0221656-e0221656
• Main Authors: Mameli, Chiara, Cattaneo, Camilla, Panelli, Simona, Comandatore, Francesco, Sangiorgio, Arianna, Bedogni, Giorgio, Bandi, Claudio, Zuccotti, Gianvincenzo, Pagliarini, Ella
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescent obesity; Adolescents; Analysis; Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Biodiversity; Biology and Life Sciences; Body mass index; Body weight gain; Care and treatment; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child health; Childhood obesity; Children; Children & youth; Cross-Sectional Studies; Eating behavior; Female; Food; Food composition; Hospitals; Humans; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Microbiology; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Microorganisms; Mouth - microbiology; Neophobia; Nutritional status; Obesity; Papillae; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - microbiology; Pediatrics; Phylogeny; Risk Assessment; Risk factors; Sensitivity; Social Sciences; Studies; Taste; Taste perception; Taste Perception - physiology; Taste thresholds; Teenagers
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221656

Obesity in childhood and adolescence is considered the most prevalent nutritional disorder, in which eating behaviours represent one important factors of influence. Many aspects influence eating behaviours, but taste is considered the main predictor. However, data concerning correlations of obesity, taste sensitivity and behavioural attitudes, such as food neophobia, in children and adolescents are inconsistent. Moreover, it has been suggested that oral bacteria could have a possible role in obesity development and, also, in taste perception. In this context, the present study focused on host related factors with a proposed link to weight gain. To this purpose, taste sensitivity, salivary microbiota composition and food neophobia were compared between children and adolescents with and without obesity in a cross-sectional study. Results showed that children with obesity presented a significantly lower ability in correctly identifying taste qualities and were characterized by a lesser number of Fungiform Papillae (reported as FP/cm2) compared to normal-weight subjects. Differences in the ecological indexes of microbial alpha-diversity was found between subjects with obesity and normal-weight ones. Moreover, independently from nutritional status, some bacterial genera seemed to differ between subjects with different sensitivity. The potentiality of this multidisciplinary approach could help to better understand and deepen the sensory-driven and microbiological factors related to weight gain.