Effects of obesity and set point on taste responsiveness and ingestion in humans

Two experiments investigated the relationships among degree of obesity, nearness to set point for adipose tissue mass, and responsiveness to taste. In Experiment 1, subjects rated milkshakes varying in sweetness intensity. Overweight and normal weight subjects did not have significantly different detection thresholds or preference ratings. However, overweight subjects worked longer than normals to obtain their most preferred substance. Experiment 2 varied the ease of tasting the milkshake. Preference and food intake of moderately overweight subjects were significantly more influenced by tastes that they found positive and negative than was the preference of normal weight or obese subjects. The ease of ingesting the taste substance also significantly influenced preference and food intake of the moderately obese only. Nearness to set point, operationally defined as weight stability for 2 years, had no significant effects.