Could your tongue be the key to helping you lose weight? With the aid of new research, scientists say it may be.
For the first time, researchers have mapped out the three-dimensional structure of the tongue and the sweet taste receptor.
These receptors can detect a large number of different chemicals that taste sweet and, unlike other receptors such as those for sour or bitter tastes, have evolved to not be very sensitive. This, in turn, helps us focus on sugary foods for energy and drives our cravings.
Better understanding this sweet taste receptor could help aid the discovery of things to regulate it and potentially alter our appetite for sugar, they announced on Wednesday.
“The leading role that sugar plays in obesity cannot be overlooked,” Dr. Juen Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, said in a statement. “The artificial sweeteners that we use today to replace sugar just don’t meaningfully change our desire for sugar. Now that we know what the receptor looks like, we might be able to design something better.”
Zhang was the co-first author of the findings, which were published in the journal Cell.
To reach this milestone, Zhang and his co-authors worked for three years.
They used a technique called cryo-electron microscopy to analyze the receptor, firing beams of electrons to help them capture images o 3D structure of the tongue and its sweet receptor.
The receptor, which consists of two main halves, includes a component that resembles a Venus flytrap. Knowing the structure of that part, which is called a binding pocket, may also help to better figure out why some people are so sensitive to sweets.
“Defining the binding pocket of this receptor very accurately is absolutely vital to understanding its function,” study co-author Dr. Anthony Fitzpatrick, a principal investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, said.
“By knowing its exact shape, we can see why sweeteners attach to it, and how to make or find better molecules that activate the receptor or regulate its function,” he added.
Although the sweet taste receptor is found in the mouth, it is also found throughout the body. So, maps can support additional research looking at metabolism. That research could be incredibly helpful in the ongoing fight against obesity.
It’s a big problem to tackle in the U.S., where obesity affects one in five children and two in five adults. Furthermore, eating too much sugar is associated with larger fat deposits around the heart and in the abdomen, which are risky for a person’s health.
“We’re trying to move our understanding of science forward to be able to help people,” said study co-author Andrew Chang, a research technician at the Fitzpatrick lab.
