Normally, when a person ingests food, the body’s natural response is ‘adapting’ and creating the feeling of satiety. Reduced saliva production is part of that process. The authors of a small study found that, unlike people with normal weight, obese men and women did not achieve a significant reduction in the production of saliva during the repeated exposure to the flavor of lemon juice.

The new findings suggest that in the morbidly obese, this adaptation process and, therefore, the feeling of satiety are slower. These conclusions are featured in a study published by the magazine Obesity Surgery.

The 34 obese adults who participated in the study were candidates for bariatric surgery, a procedure which modifies the digestive tract to reduce the amount of food one can eat at once. In general, it is an option for people with morbid obesity (at least 45 pounds overweight). The procedure reduces the stomach capacity to retain food and, in some cases, the body’s capacity to absorb nutrients. Even after the surgical procedure, patients should still reduce portion sizes and focus on eating nutritious foods.

Bariatric surgery is said to still be a form of ‘behavioral surgery’ in the light of eating habits along with postsurgical outcomes. In some cases, there is a disruption of adaptation which would explain why some people still have trouble controlling food consumption even after bariatric surgery.

‘Physiological response may partially explain why severely obese individuals may not feel satisfied after eating and often have difficulty controlling the amount of food they consume during a meal,’ the study concludes.

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Via Science Centric