Obese Smokers Less Likely to Detect Fat and Sugar in Food

Obese woman with the smoking habit consume excess calories as smoking interferes with their ability to taste fat and sweet.

The study, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, found that obese smokers were less likely to detect fat and sweetness and this drives them to consume more calories. The study was led by M. Yanina Pepino, PhD, assistant professor and Julie Mennella, PhD, a biopsychologist at the Monell Center in Philadelphia.

The study was based on the analysis of four groups of women between ages 21 an d 41. The groups were obese smokers, obese non-smokers, and smokers of normal weight and non-smokers of normal weight. As a part of the study the women were asked to taste several vanilla puddings that contained different amounts of fat and they were finally asked to rate them on the basis of sweetness and creaminess, a measure of fat content.

"Compared with the other three groups, smokers who were obese perceived less creaminess and sweetness," Pepino said in a statement. "They also derived less pleasure from tasting the puddings."

The researchers highlight the fact that they only traced a link between smoking and taste and not why obese smokers were less likely to detect fat and sweetness.

"Obese people often crave high-fat foods," she said. "Our findings suggest that having this intense craving but not perceiving fat and sweetness in food may lead these women to eat more. Since smoking and obesity are risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, the additional burden of craving more fats and sugars, while not fully tasting them, could be detrimental to health."

The 'double whammy' effect was due to the combination of smoking and obesity.  Non obese smokers could perceive fat and sweetness and so could women who did not smoke. Studies conducted earlier have tied smoking to an increase in food cravings and greater consumption of fat, irrespective of whether the smoker was obese. Studies also discovered that smokers are more vulnerable to have high wait-to-hip ratio and are apple shaped, a risk factor for heart and metabolic diseases.

"Women are much more likely than men to take up smoking as an aid to weight control," Pepino said. "But there is no good evidence showing that it helps maintain a healthy weight over the long term. And in the case of obese women who smoke, it appears the smoking may make things even worse than previously thought."

The finding was documented in the journal Obesity.