It’s a theory set to confirm why humans are so fond of fatty foods such as chips and chocolate cake: In addition to the five tastes already identified lurks another detectable by the palate — fat.
“We know that the human tongue can detect five tastes — sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami [a savory, protein-rich taste contained in foods such as soy sauce and chicken stock],” Russell Keast of Deakin University said yesterday.
“Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste — fat,” he said.
Researchers tested 30 people’s ability to taste a range of fatty acids in otherwise plain solutions and found that all were able to determine the taste — though some required higher concentrations than others.
They then developed a screening test to see how sensitive people were to the taste and found that, of the 50 people tested, their ability to detect fat was linked to their weight.
“We found that the people who were sensitive to fat, who could taste very low concentrations, actually consumed less fat than the people who were insensitive,” Keast said. “We also found that they had lower BMIs [Body Mass Indexes].”
Keast said the research suggested that the taste of fat could trigger a mechanism in the body.
It was possible that people may become desensitized to the taste of fat, leaving some more prone to overindulging in calorie-rich foods, he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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