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According to researchers at the Monell Center, fruits flies are more like humans in their response to many sweet tastes than are almost any other species. The findings highlight the critical role of environment in shaping the evolution of taste preferences and feeding behavior.
A new study from the Monell Center increases understanding of the biological mechanisms responsible for the nausea and vomiting that often afflict patients undergoing chemotherapy. The findings could lead to the development of new approaches to combat these debilitating side effects.
Researchers from the Monell Center and the Tokyo University of Agriculture have used a novel molecular method to identify chemical compounds from common foods that activate human taste receptors. The findings may aid development of bitter inhibitors to help make health-promoting bitter foods such as green vegetables more palatable.
Researchers from the Monell Center have for the first time attemped to count the number of genes that contribute to obesity and body weight. The findings suggest that over 6,000 genes, about 25 percent of the genome, are involved.
Moms, want your babies to like fruits and veggies? According to new research from the Monell Center, if you're breastfeeding, you can provide baby with a good start by eating them yourself. And, offer your baby plenty of opportunities to taste fruits and vegetables as s/he makes the transition to solid foods by giving repeated exposures to these healthy foods - regardless of whether you're breastfeeding or feeding formula.
A study from the Monell Center reports that nicotine in the breast milk of lactating mothers who smoke cigarettes disrupts their infants' sleep. The findings raise new questions regarding whether nicotine exposure through breast milk affects infant development.
Researchers at the Monell Center have identified a genetically-transmitted defect that can lead to obesity. The defect may explain why some people become obese while others remain lean. The findings could open the door to the development of new drugs to curb appetite and promote weight loss
Scientists at Monell report that genes play a large role in determining individual differences in sour taste perception. The findings may help researchers identify the still-elusive taste receptor that detects sourness in foods and beverages, just as recent gene studies helped uncover receptors for sweet and bitter taste.
Scientists have long assumed that bitter taste evolved as a defense mechanism against potentially harmful toxins in plants. Monell scientists provide the first direct evidence in support of this hypothesis by establishing that variants of the bitter taste receptor TAS2R38 can detect glucosinolates, a class of anti-thyroid compounds with potentially harmful physiological actions, in natural foods.
Researchers at Monell have found that taking as little as a hundred milliseconds longer to smell an odor results in more accurate identification of that odor. This seemingly simple observation has important implications regarding how olfactory information is processed by the brain.
A scientific paradox linking artificial sweeteners such as saccharin with a sensory experience in which plain water takes on a sweet taste has guided researchers at the Monell Center to an increased understanding of how humans detect sweet taste. The findings will open doors to the development of new sweeteners and inhibitors.
Monell researchers have succeeded in growing mature taste receptor cells outside the body, and for the first time have been able to maintain living cells for a prolonged period of time. The establishement of a viable long-term model opens a range of opportunities to increase understanding about the sense of taste and how it functions in nutrition, health and disease.
It's no secret that children like sweet-tasting foods and beverages. It's also known that sweet taste acts as an analgesic in children, reducing their perception of pain. Now Monell researchers report that the analgesic efficacy of sweet taste is influenced by how much a child likes sweet taste and also by the child's weight status.
A new study may help shed light on why some people like salt more than others. The results suggest that a person's liking for salt may be related to how much they weighed whe they were born.
Nano-sized carbon tubes coated with strands of DNA can create tiny sensors with abilities to detect odors and tasts, according to scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
A naturally-occuring chemical found in extra-virgin olive oils is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent, report scientists from the Monell Chemical Senses Center and collaborators. Named oleocanthal by the researchers, the compound inhibits activity of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, a pharmacological action shared by ibuprofen. The finding is significant because inflammation increasingly is believed to play a key role in a variety of chronic diseases.
Scientists from the Monell Center, in collaboration with scientists from the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, report that a defect in a gene that codes for part of the mammalian sweet taste receptor can account for cats' indifference to sugar and other sweets. The findings demonstrate the major role that genetic influences on taste play in food selection and consequently on nutrition.
Your nose, whether big or small, male or female, heterosexual or homosexual, may play a big role in selecting your potential mate. According to scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, one person's preference for another person's body odor depends in part upon the gender and sexual orientation of both sender and receiver.
Despite age-old claims advising breastfeeding moms that alcoholic beverages can improve their nursing performance, researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report that even moderate doses of alcohol affect the hormones responsible for lactation in a counterproductive manner.
In the first study to examine living nerve cells from patients with psychiatric disease, scientists from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, the University of Pennsylvania, and collaborating institutions report altered nerve cell function in olfactory receptor neurons from patients with bipolar disorder.
Why do brussels sprouts taste bitterly repellent to one person and bland - or even delicious - to the next? A study published in Current Biology confirms the influential role of genetics in determining the wide range of human sensitivity to taste, ultimately impacting how we each perceive the world in a slightly different way.
Variation in a taste receptor gene influences taste sensitivity of children and adults, accounting for individual differences in taste preferences and food selection, report a team of researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center. In addition to genes, age and culture also contribute to taste preferences, at times overriding the influence of genetics.
Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal that food cravings activate brain areas related to emotion, memory and reward – areas also activated during drug-craving studies.
A team of researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center and Jefferson Medical College has been awarded a $7.7 million, five-year grant by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to study how inflammation affects our senses of taste and smell.
Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center and the University of California, Davis report that drinking beverages containing fructose, a naturally-occurring sugar commonly used to sweeten soft drinks and other beverages, induces a pattern of hormonal responses that may favor the development of obesity.
Ever wonder why your child loves to eat spaghetti and meatballs while her best friend likes nothing better than a steaming bowl of cauliflower curry? The answer may lie in part with what they were fed as young infants. Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia report that sensory experience during the first seven months of life may contribute to individual differences in food likes and dislikes.
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