The effect of genotypical and phenotypical variation in taste sensitivity on liking of ice cream and dietary fat intake

• Ice cream liking was significantly influenced by fat content.
• Liking for high fat was associated with low salt perception but not PROP status.
• Liking for high fat was not associated with measured taste genotypes.
• Liking for high fat in ice cream was related to high dairy intake.
• Fat intake (% energy) significantly related to CA6 genotype; but minor allele frequency was low.

Emerging evidence suggests fat can be perceived as a taste. G-protein coupled receptors as well as CD36, a fatty acid translocase, have been proposed to be involved in fat perception. Therefore, differences in number of receptors and genotype of CD36 have both been proposed to influence inter-individual fat taste perception. Fungiform papillae density (FPD) and PROP taster status are phenotypes related to receptor number. Previous authors have proposed an association between such phenotypes and CA6 (gustin) genotype, because the latter influences receptor cell proliferation. The effect of these factors on fat perception, preference and intake, requires further investigation. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of taste sensitivity, including both genotypic and phenotypic variation, on liking of ice cream and dietary fat intake. Participants (n = 136) age 18–55 years were recruited in the UK. Hedonic liking results demonstrated that liking for ice cream was significantly affected by the fat content of the sample, and by demographic factors (gender, ethnicity, age) but not by the consumers CD36 rs1761667 or CA6 rs2274333 genotype, PROP taster status nor FPD. However, categorising taste sensitivity from participant responses to salt taste alone (rather than to salt and PROP) found significant differences, with low salt perceivers liking the high fat (20%) ice cream substantially more than medium- and high salt perceivers. This indicated that increased taste sensitivity reduced liking of high fat. Cluster analysis highlighted that one group of consumers (18%) liked higher fat ice cream, whereas another (30%) liked lower fat ice cream compared to the 52% of consumers that liked ice cream regardless of fat content. There was a significant association between these groups and salt taste sensitivity. Concerning recorded dietary intake, the high-fat liker group were found to have substantially higher dairy product consumption compared to high-fat dislikers. Fat intake as a percentage of total energy intake was significantly related to CA6 genotype, however the minor allele frequency at rs2274333 is too low to draw firm conclusions within this study population.