Decoding fat-driven appetite: implications for flavor science and health-oriented food design

Abstract

Fat perception engages overlapping neurobiological pathways—spanning taste, texture, and gut–brain signaling—that encode reward, incentive salience, and energy-balance feedback. In obesity, these circuits become dysregulated, amplifying maladaptive eating. Deciphering these mechanisms is foundational to food science: it directly informs flavor engineering, product reformulation, and microbiome-targeted interventions that can strategically reshape dietary fat preference and curb overconsumption without sacrificing enjoyment.