December 30/Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- New findings from the Monell Center and Kyushu University in Japan report that endocannabinoids act directly on taste receptors on the tongue to enhance sweet taste.
"Our taste cells may be more involved in regulating our appetites than we had previously known," said study author Robert Margolskee, M.D., Ph.D., a Monell molecular biologist. "Better understanding of the driving forces for eating and overeating could lead to interventions to stem the burgeoning rise in obesity and related diseases."