Genetic Variations in Sweet Taste Receptor Gene Are Related to Chocolate Powder and Dietary Fiber Intake in Obese Children and Adolescents

Taste perception is an essential function that provides valuable dietary and sensory information, which is crucial for the survival of animals. Studies into the evolution of the sweet taste receptor gene (TAS1R2) are scarce, especially for Bornean endemic primates such as Nasalis larvatus (proboscis monkey), Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean orangutan), and Hylobates muelleri (Muller’s Bornean gibbon). Primates are the perfect taxa to study as they are diverse dietary feeders, comprising specialist folivores, frugivores, gummivores, herbivores, and omnivores. We constructed phylogenetic trees of the TAS1R2 gene for 20 species of anthropoid primates using four different methods (neighbor-joining, maximum parsimony, maximum-likelihood, and Bayesian) and also established the time divergence of the phylogeny. The phylogeny successfully separated the primates into their taxonomic groups as well as by their dietary preferences. Of note, the reviewed time of divergence estimation for the primate speciation pattern in this study was more recent than the previously published estimates. It is believed that this difference may be due to environmental changes, such as food scarcity and climate change, during the late Miocene epoch, which forced primates to change their dietary preferences. These findings provide a starting point for further investigation.

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Sweet Taste Receptor Gene Variation and Aspartame Taste in Primates and Other Species

Chemical Senses ◽

10.1093/chemse/bjq145 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 36 (5) ◽

pp. 453-475 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

X. Li ◽

A. A. Bachmanov ◽

K. Maehashi ◽

W. Li ◽

R. Lim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Receptor Gene ◽

Taste Receptor ◽

Sweet Taste ◽

Gene Variation ◽

Sweet Taste Receptor

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Sweet taste receptor gene TAS1R3 polymorphisms related to food preferences, biochemical parameters and body composition

Nutrition ◽

10.1016/j.nut.2018.03.022 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 50 ◽

pp. e4

Author(s):

S. Perna ◽

M. Nichetti ◽

F. Moncaglieri ◽

I. Avanzato ◽

D. Spadaccini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Composition ◽

Biochemical Parameters ◽

Receptor Gene ◽

Taste Receptor ◽

Food Preferences ◽

Sweet Taste ◽

Sweet Taste Receptor

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Evolution of the Sweet Taste Receptor Gene Tas1r2 in Bats

Molecular Biology and Evolution ◽

10.1093/molbev/msq152 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 27 (11) ◽

pp. 2642-2650 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

H. Zhao ◽

Y. Zhou ◽

C. M. Pinto ◽

P. Charles-Dominique ◽

J. Galindo-Gonzalez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Receptor Gene ◽

Taste Receptor ◽

Sweet Taste ◽

Sweet Taste Receptor

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Association of dietary fiber intake with general and abdominal obesity in children and adolescents: The Weight disorder survey of the CASPIAN-IV Study

Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism ◽

10.3233/mnm-180224 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 251-260 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maryam Bahreynian ◽

Mostafa Qorbani ◽

Mohammad Esmaeil Motlagh ◽

Roya Riahi ◽

Roya Kelishadi

Keyword(s):

Children And Adolescents ◽

Dietary Fiber ◽

Abdominal Obesity ◽

Fiber Intake ◽

Dietary Fiber Intake ◽

Obesity In Children

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Loss of sweet taste despite the conservation of sweet receptor genes in insectivorous bats

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2021516118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 118 (4) ◽

pp. e2021516118

Author(s):

Hengwu Jiao ◽

Huan-Wang Xie ◽

Libiao Zhang ◽

Nima Zhuoma ◽

Peihua Jiang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Divergence ◽

Receptor Gene ◽

Taste Receptor ◽

Sweet Taste ◽

Taste Perception ◽

Taste Receptors ◽

Behavioral Experiments ◽

Insectivorous Bats ◽

Sweet Taste Receptor ◽

Sweet Taste Receptors

The evolution of taste perception is usually associated with the ecology and dietary changes of organisms. However, the association between feeding ecology and taste receptor evolution is unclear in some lineages of vertebrate animals. One example is the sweet taste receptor gene Tas1r2. Previous analysis of partial sequences has revealed that Tas1r2 has undergone equally strong purifying selection between insectivorous and frugivorous bats. To test whether the sweet taste function is also important in bats with contrasting diets, we examined the complete coding sequences of both sweet taste receptor genes (Tas1r2 and Tas1r3) in 34 representative bat species. Although these two genes are highly conserved between frugivorous and insectivorous bats at the sequence level, our behavioral experiments revealed that an insectivorous bat (Myotis ricketti) showed no preference for natural sugars, whereas the frugivorous species (Rousettus leschenaultii) showed strong preferences for sucrose and fructose. Furthermore, while both sweet taste receptor genes are expressed in the taste tissue of insectivorous and frugivorous bats, our cell-based assays revealed striking functional divergence: the sweet taste receptors of frugivorous bats are able to respond to natural sugars whereas those of insectivorous bats are not, which is consistent with the behavioral preference tests, suggesting that functional evolution of sweet taste receptors is closely related to diet. This comprehensive study suggests that using sequence conservation alone could be misleading in inferring protein and physiological function and highlights the power of combining behavioral experiments, expression analysis, and functional assays in molecular evolutionary studies.

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Is a High-fiber Diet Safe for Children?

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.96.5.1014 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 96 (5) ◽

pp. 1014-1019

Author(s):

Christine L. Williams ◽

Marguerite Bollella

Keyword(s):

Children And Adolescents ◽

Dietary Fiber ◽

Health Effects ◽

Fiber Intake ◽

High Fiber ◽

Adverse Health Effects ◽

Small Loss ◽

Dietary Fiber Intake ◽

Us Children ◽

Very High

Objectives: Although dietary fiber is associated with important health benefits in childhood, there have been concerns that very high fiber diets may result in adverse health effects. This report reviews the major safety concerns associated with consumption of very high fiber diets, estimates the amount of fiber that may cause adverse physiologic effects in children, and proposes safe levels of dietary fiber intake for children and adolescents. Methods. Published studies on dietary fiber intake in childhood were reviewed to determine major safety concerns, to document adverse effects, to characterize subjects involved and the dose and type of fiber consumed, and to estimate potential relevance to US children and adolescents. Levels of dietary fiber reported to have adverse health effects were compared with recommended levels of fiber intake for children older than 2 years of age. Results and Conclusions. A review of the scientific literature suggests that a small loss of energy, protein, and fat may occur with a high intake of dietary fiber. However, this small loss of energy is unlikely to be significant to children consuming adequate levels of major nutrients, especially at conservative fiber intakes as recommended by the American Health Foundation's age plus 5 formula. In addition, it is estimated that even with a doubling of current dietary fiber, there is unlikely to be an adverse effect on serum vitamin and mineral concentrations in healthy US children consuming a balanced diet containing adequate levels of nutrients. Thus, evidence suggests that for US children, a moderate increase in dietary fiber is more likely to be healthful than harmful.

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