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Updated: Sep 10, 2026

Measuring Oral Fatty Acid Thresholds, Fat Perception, Fatty Food Liking, and Papillae Density in Humans
Published on: June 4, 2014
Desire to eat high- and low-fat foods following a low-fat dietary intervention
Frederick G Grieve1, Mark W Vander Weg
1The University of Memphis Center for Community Health, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. rick.grieve@wku.edu
Objective:
This study examined changes in desires to eat high-fat and low-fat foods across an obesity treatment program. The hypotheses under examination were (1) preferences for low-fat foods would increase across time and (2) preferences for high-fat foods would decrease across time.
Design:
Single-group, prospective examination of desires to eat 48 foods, categorized according to fat content, before and after the 16-week treatment program.
Setting:
University clinic, Memphis, Tennessee.
Participants:
118 obese (mean weight = 194.4 lbs) women (mean age = 45.24 years) participating in an obesity treatment program.
Intervention:
A 16-week cognitive-behavioral program for obesity.
Variables Measured:
Desires to eat 48 foods varying in fat content and whether or not participants actually ate these foods.
Analysis:
Analysis of variance, multiple regression, and paired t tests.
Results:
The results indicate that during the program, preferences for low-fat foods increased, whereas preferences for high-fat foods decreased. These changes mirrored the changes in consumption of both low-fat and high-fat foods.
Conclusions And Implications:
Within a behavioral economic perspective, the reinforcement value of low-fat foods may increase following a low-fat dietary intervention, whereas the reinforcing properties of high-fat foods may decline. This is desirable as low-fat foods hold many advantages over high-fat foods in terms of weight maintenance.
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