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Its not your fault - a sweet tooth is bred in the genes
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CAN'T resist that daily dose of chocolate? Piling on the pounds with puddings? Fear not, you are not suffering from a weak will; you can now blame it on your genes.
Scientists in America have discovered that a gene known as T1R3 plays a vital role in allowing mice to taste sweet foods and that the same gene is present in human beings.
The findings offer good and bad news to the 13 million Britons on a diet. Having a sweet tooth in one抯 genetic make-up makes it far more difficult to resist a snack, but the research could pave the way for a new generation of designer diet foods and even drugs to encourage healthy eating.
Unrelated but relevant findings published yesterday by the Sugar Bureau found that little more than half of those who dieted managed to keep the weight off for more than a year, while nearly one fifth had piled the flab back on within six months.
Details of the studies by scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are published today in the journals "Nature Genetics" and "Nature Neuroscience".
The discovery is likely to have several benefits for medicine and nutrition. The researchers believe that it will be possible to develop artificial sweeteners tailored to particular palates. 揥e will be able to design sweeteners much as we design pharmaceuticals,?said Dr Robert Margolskee, who led the research. It may also prove feasible to design drugs that block the action of the sweetness receptors that obey the T1R3 gene's instructions. "This might lead to diet foods and drinks that fight obesity,?Dr Margolskee said.
A genetic basis for perceptions of sweetness and bitterness would make evolutionary sense, he said. "There are good reasons why animals that like eating sweet things would do well; sweet things are high in carbohydrates with a high nutritional value. An ability to discern bitterness also stops you from eating unripe fruit or many poisonous plants."
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