EDITORIAL: “The Koch’s” view on the sense of taste in endocrinology

Abstract

Bobesity remains one of the biggest threats to the health of our children and our country. Around 17 percent of children and more than 30 percent of adults are currently considered obese-putting them at heightened risk for a wide range of health problems. If we fail to change the course of the nation's obesity epidemic, the current generation of young people may be the first in American history to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. According to the most recent data, rates of obesity now exceed 35 percent in three states (Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi), 22 states have rates above 30 percent, 45 states are above 25 percent, and every state is above 20 percent. Arkansas has the highest adult obesity rate at 35.9 percent, while Colorado has the lowest at 21.3 percent. The data show that 23 of 25 states with the highest rates of obesity are in the South and Midwest [1]^. In one of my previous reviews on the topic endocrine hypertension, I have provided insights into the various hormone imbalances that occur in people who are overweight or obese and have mentioned the potential problem of major addictions including hedonic eating and the addiction to consuming food items with a high content of fat, carbohydrates, and salt [2]. During the preparation of this endocrine hypertension review, I had the idea that perhaps taste perception is altered in many people nowadays, perhaps by manipulation of the taste system. This triggered my curiosity and I searched the literature with the key words taste, perception, endocrine, addiction, brain, hormones, sweeteners, salt, sweet, sour, bitter, umami, and fat. Among the published literature sources, I came across the names of the guest editors Drs. Duffy and Rother. Dr. Duffy and colleagues had investigated salt sensation and liking in an attempt to explain variability in sodium intake through oral sensory phenotype, and Dr. Rother had extensively published on artificial sweeteners.After phoning Drs. Duffy and Rother and proposing my idea of a special guest issue on the topic taste in endocrinology, they suggested that I should attend the annual meeting of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences. I followed their advice and enjoyed this convention immensely, especially meeting and interacting with a very diverse group of scientists including neuroscientists.As with many things in life nowadays, perception has become more important than real facts and some people may call this phenomenon simply Bsuperior marketing^or propaganda. Perceived taste is affected by Bdiet^drinks which contain less sugar but non-nutritive sweeteners like aspartame [3]. The increasing use of artificial sweeteners over the last several

Immunoendocrinology: When (neuro)endocrinology and immunology meet

“…In predisposed individuals, a microbial antigen would then trigger autoimmunity because of structural similarity to an autoantigen of the host [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Being born and growing up in such an obesogenic and polluted environment may be more challenging for changing the deleterious course on health than coming into such an environment from outside as an adult, although both situations will alter the gut microbiome [37][38][39][40][41]. The question arises when the time has come to act on limiting endocrine disrupting chemicals (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 292335196_Endocrine_Disruptors_is_it_time_to_act and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270161477_ Endocrine_Aspects_in_Obesity_What_the_Non-Endocrinologist_Should_Know/download).…”

New light on an old vitamin: The role of the sunshine vitamin D in chronic disease

“…Obviously, energy balance plays an important role in the current obesity epidemic [17]. Most of this epidemic is driven by an imbalance between energy intake and consumption, likely facilitated by hedonic behavior, change in taste perception, and other factors, with nutrition playing a central role [18,19]. The important role of nutritionists in the current obesity and vitamin D epidemic is reviewed by Savastano and colleagues in Part 1 of this guest issue [20].…”