Association between fat preference and fat taste sensitivity in healthy weight and obese pregnant women based on the pre-pregnancy body mass index

Abstract

While previous studies have reported differences between obese and non-obese individuals in terms of their fat taste sensitivity, few have assessed fat taste sensitivity in pregnant women. Thus, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between fat preference and fat taste sensitivity between healthy weight pregnant women and obese pregnant women based on the pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) during the third trimester of pregnancy. Fat taste threshold was determined using the Ascending Forced Choice method (3-AFC). Food preference was assessed by a hedonic sensory test using three levels of fat concentration, namely 5 %, 10 %, and 15 %, representing low, medium, and high fat concentrations, respectively. The result shows that obese women (2.98) had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher fat detection threshold than healthy weight women (1.84). Moreover, the hyposensitive participants significantly (p < 0.05) preferred the high fat concentration (3.0) than the hypersensitive participants (2.6). A significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) was noted between fat preference and fat taste threshold for the high fat concentration. Additionally, the correlation between fat preference and pre-pregnancy BMI was subjected to the level of fat concentration, whereby a negative correlation was observed for a low fat concentration, but a positive correlation was found for medium and high fat concentrations. Our findings demonstrated differences between obese pregnant women and healthy weight pregnant women in terms of their fat taste sensitivity and revealed that these differences affect the women's preference for various levels of fat concentration.