Author Interviews, Dental Research / 01.07.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dane Kim, Dental Student University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This large study was inspired, in part, by a previous publication, Gustatory Function After Third Molar Extraction (Shafer et al. 1999), which examined the effect of third molar extractions on human taste function.   Their work was based upon more severe extractions and followed patients only up to six months after their surgery. Studies examining taste function over a longer period, i.e., beyond six months from the surgery, were non-existent. The Smell and Taste Center of Penn Medicine, which is the only center of its type in the United States, has a large unique database of patients who have been thoroughly tested for both smell and taste function. This provided us with the opportunity to compare data from hundreds of persons who had previously received third-molar extractions to those who had not received such extractions. Importantly, the extracts had occurred years before thee taste testing.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research / 22.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert Margolskee, MD, PhD Director and President Monell Center Adjunct Professor, Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We found chemical-sensing cells in the gums that protect the mouth by standing guard against infections that damage soft tissue and destroy the bone that supports the teeth. With the help of bitter taste receptors that also detect byproducts from harmful bacteria, these special gum cells trigger the immune system to control the amount and type of bacteria in the mouth. This knowledge could one day lead to personalized dental treatments against gum disease. Periodontitis is a serious gum disorder caused by an imbalance in the bacteria and other microorganisms of the mouth. We hope that our new information can help to combat this sixth-most prevalent infectious disease and most common cause of tooth loss worldwide. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Nutrition, Sugar / 28.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Daniel Hwang PhD Postdoctoral Research Fellow The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: The aim of the this study is to understand the genetic basis of human taste perception. In this international collaboration project, we started by collecting sensory data from twins in the Australia and USA since 2003. Based on the difference in the genetic relatedness between identical and non-identical twins, our previous studies have quantified the amount of genetic influence on sweet taste perception (https://doi.org/10.1017/thg.2015.42) as well as the other sensory phenotypes (https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjs070).  (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Weight Research / 21.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robin Dando, PhD Assistant Professor Director, Cornell Sensory Evaluation Facility Department of Food Science Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: For many years, people have been interested in if gaining weight can change how we perceive foods, thus maybe encouraging less healthy food choices.  There is some evidence in previous work that if we become obese, we seem to perceive things as tasting less intense.  Now if this were the case, to make up for this we might eat more of whatever food it was we were eating, or conversely we might choose something that tasted more intense, to make up this difference.  More intense usually means higher calories, so if we took either of these approaches, we’re at risk for weight gain. In our study, we examined the taste buds of mice who were fed an unhealthy diet that induces obesity, versus sibling mice fed a more healthy diet that keeps them lean.  The mice gaining weight ended up after only 8 weeks with a lot fewer taste buds than the lean mice.  This loss of taste buds represents one explanation for foods tasting less intense to the obese. (more…)
Author Interviews, Coffee, Weight Research / 28.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robin Dando, PhD Assistant Professor Director, Cornell Sensory Evaluation Facility Department of Food Science Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The study arose from a previous paper I authored in the Journal of Neuroscience, where we found Adenosine receptors in taste.  We managed to prove that they were there to amplify sweet signals.  This led us to wonder, what about the foods we consume, that would come into contact with these receptors in taste buds. It just happens that a lot of us habitually consume a powerful blocker of adenosine receptors every morning.  Caffeine.  So is our coffee impairing sweet signals?  It turns out when we gave people sweetened coffee containing caffeine, they judged it as less sweet than the same coffee without the caffeine, sampled on a different day.  Interestingly, this persisted, and sweet solutions they tested afterwards were still a little less sweet. Finally, just for kicks, we asked them to rate how much caffeine they thought was in either coffee, and how much more alert it made them feel.  Turns out, there was no difference.  They couldn’t tell which was deacf, and either coffee gave them just as much of an alertness boost. (more…)
Author Interviews, Surgical Research, Weight Research / 30.04.2014

Mr. David Bowrey, MD FRCS (Gen Surg) MMedEd FHEA Consultant General / Oesophagogastric Surgeon & Honorary Senior Lecturer, Dept Cancer Studies, Training Programme Director for Core Surgery, East Midlands South University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester Royal InfirmaryMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mr. David Bowrey, MD FRCS (Gen Surg) MMedEd FHEA  Consultant General / Oesophagogastric Surgeon & Honorary Senior Lecturer, Dept Cancer Studies, Training Programme Director for Core Surgery, East Midlands South University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester Royal Infirmary MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study? Dr. Bowrey: Of 103 patients who had undergone Roux en Y gastric bypass surgery, changes in appetite, taste and smell were noted in 97%, 73% and 42% respectively. Seventy-three percent of patients developed aversions to certain types of foods, most frequently meat, starch and dairy produce. The change in taste sensation for the three common modalities of "sweet", "salt" and "sour" was decreased in some patients and increased in other patients. Patients who experienced food aversions typically experienced more weight loss than patients not developing aversions. (more…)