Podcasts about Monell Chemical Senses Center

An attractive new strategy for brain surgeryA Canadian team is developing minimally-invasive micro-tools for brain surgery that can be operated by magnetic fields from outside of the skull. The tools, including scalpels and forceps, will enter the cranium through small incisions, and then be controlled by focused and precise magnetic fields. Eric Diller is associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Toronto and his research was published in the journal Science Robotics.Animal tool use is fishyIn recent decades scientists have discovered animals from primates to birds and marine mammals can use tools — a capacity once thought to be exclusive to humans. Now scientists have discovered fish using hard surfaces to crack open hard-shelled prey and get at the meaty meal inside. The research, led by Juliette Tariel-Adam from Macquarie University, included recruiting divers and scientists from around the world to report any sightings of tool use, which led to 16 reports across five species of wrasses. The results were published in the journal Coral Reefs.Bad news — a long cold bath may be good for youFor a hardy few, soaking in cold water has long been held out as being healthful and invigorating. Well, unfortunately, the latest research suggests that they're right. Volunteers who soaked in cold water for an hour a day for a week showed improvements in autophagy, an important cellular clean-up function that typically declines with age. Kelli King is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ottawa and was co-lead on this study, published in the journal Advanced Biology. How the unicorn of the sea uses its hornThe Narwhal is a small whale distinguished by its long spiral horn — an elongated tooth. Researchers have long speculated about what the ostentatious bit of dentition is actually for, but the elusive narwhal has, until now, been hard to study. Now scientists, including Cortney Watt from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, have used drones to learn that the horn is used in several ways: to play, explore, and forage. The research was published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.Why your body and brain might be fighting your efforts to get and stay slimmerNew research is revealing why it's so difficult to keep weight off after you've lost it. One study in Nature found that genes in the fat cells of people who lost a significant amount of weight through bariatric surgery largely continued to behave as if they were still obese. Ferdinand von Meyenn, from ETH Zurich, said that despite these individuals becoming, in many respects, much more healthy, genes that became active during obesity remained active, and genes that were turned off, remained turned off, predisposing them to regain lost weight. In formerly obese mice, their fat cells remained much better at taking up sugars and fats. In addition, another study revealed that neurons in a primitive part of the brain hold onto memories of fat and sugar that can drive our cravings, according to a study on mice in Nature Metabolism. Guillaume de Lartigue, from the Monell Chemical Senses Center and the University of Pennsylvania, said specific neural circuits in the brain light up, depending on whether the gut received sugar or fat. Removing these neurons protected the mice from diet-induced weight gain, something de Lartigue is hoping to translate to humans to dial down impulsive eating behaviour.

For thousands of years, there have been four basic tastes recognized across cultures. But thanks to Kumiko Ninomiya (a.k.a. the Umami Mama), scientists finally accepted a fifth. Could there be even more? (First published in 2022.) Guests: Kumiko Ninomiya, biochemist and former director of the Umami Information Center; Gary Beauchamp, former director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center; Sarah Tracy, historian of science; Camilla Arndal Andersen, neuroscientist; Paul Breslin, professor at Rutgers University For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why do we enjoy foods that crunch? Listener Sheila Harris contacted The Food Chain with that question and asked us to find out if the food texture has any benefits. Ruth Alexander speaks to Danielle Reed, Chief Science Officer at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, US, who says that crunchy foods signal freshness and help our brains decide if a food is safe to eat. Paediatric dentist Ashley Lerman in New York, US says crunchy fruit and vegetables can act as a natural tooth cleaner. Anthropologist Professor Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel at the University at Buffalo in New York, US says that the texture of our diets can impact the shape of our faces. Her work has studied how jaw shape has changed as humans switched from hunter gatherer to farming diets. Ciarán Forde, Professor of Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour at Wageningen University in the Netherlands explains how crunchy and other hard textures could help us to eat more slowly and consume fewer calories. And could crunch make foods more palatable? Chef Dulsie Fadzai Mudekwa in Zimbabwe says the texture is key to convincing people to try edible insects. If you have a question for The Food Chain email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk Produced by Beatrice Pickup. (Image: a woman biting a stick of celery. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

There are experiences we call bitter pills to swallow — and then, there are the meds themselves. Now, researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have found a...

There are experiences we call bitter pills to swallow — and then, there are the meds themselves. Now, researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have found a...

Taste, it turns out, is not a matter of opinion. Scientists have discovered that your perception of taste is informed by your genetics. When we eat or drink something, we may be having an entirely different experience to the person we're sharing a meal with, or the chef who has prepared it, or the critic who has recommended it. In this programme Ruth Alexander explores her likes and dislikes and how they might be informed by biology. Ruth meets Laura Kent of the Yorkshire Wine School in the UK who helps her learn about her sensitivity to acidic and bitter flavours. Ruth speaks to Anne Fadiman, writer and Professor of creative writing at Yale University in the US, who dislikes wine, despite her wine critic father loving it. Danielle Reed, Chief Science Officer at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, US, explains the science. Tim Hanni, Master of Wine, and author of ‘Why You Like The Wine You Like' argues that the wine industry is not paying enough attention to individual tastes. Where does this new science leave wine competitions? David Kermode, judge at the IWSC, International Wine and Spirits Competition, makes the case for the experts.If you'd like to contact the programme, please contact thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Presented by Ruth Alexander. Produced by Beatrice Pickup.(Image: three people tasting wine. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

We're resurfacing this Pressure Cooker "classic" that attempts to answer the perennial parental question: Why isn't my kid eating green beans or zucchini or, for that matter, any food that isn't beige? One theory holds that, with the help of the right bribe, you can teach kids to like anything. And so Jane dragoons her 10-year-old daughter Lucy into an experiment to see if she can learn to accept her most dreaded food: tomatoes. Jane and Liz talk to Julie Mennella, a taste scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center to learn just what it takes to make kids eat their vegetables, and serve up the simplest tips and tricks for parents to win the vegetable wars without losing their minds. To keep up with upcoming Pressure Cooker news, JOIN OUR NEW NEWSLETTER at pressurecook.substack.com Sales and distribution by Lemonada MediaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Guillaume (Will) de Lartigue is a neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His lab studies the neurobiology of eating, including how the vagus nerve senses internal stimuli in the gut. They discuss: gut-brain communication; the vagus nerve; gut hormones like leptin & GLP-1; weight loss drugs like Ozempic; glucose vs. fructose vs. non-caloric sweeteners; how the vagus nerve connects the gut to the dopamine reward system in the brain; the sensation of fats and sugars in the gut; food addiction & obesity; and more.More M&M content about diet & metabolism: https://substack.com/search/diet%20metabolism?focusedPublicationId=513528&searching=focused_postsSupport the showFind all podcast & written content at the M&M Substack:[https://mindandmatter.substack.com]Learn how to further support the podcast: [https://mindandmatter.substack.com/p/how-to-support-mind-and-matter]Try Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.Try SiPhox Health—Affordable, at-home bloodwork w/ a comprehensive set of key health marker. Use code TRIKOMES for a 10% discount.Try the Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for $50 off...

If you want to predict the color of something, you can talk about wavelengths of light. Light with a wavelength of around 460 nanometers is going to look blue. If you want to predict what something sounds like, frequencies can be a guide—a frequency of around 261 Hertz should sound like the musical note middle C. Predicting smells is more difficult. While we know that many sulfur-containing molecules tend to fall somewhere in the ‘rotten egg' or ‘skunky' category, predicting other aromas based solely on a chemical structure is hard. Molecules with a similar chemical structure may smell quite different—while two molecules with very different chemical structures can smell the same. This week in the journal Science, researchers describe developing an AI model that,  given the structure of a chemical compound, can roughly predict where it's likely to fall on a map of odors. For example, is it grassy? Or more meaty? Perhaps floral?Dr. Joel Mainland is one of the authors of that report. He's a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and an adjunct associate professor in the department of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Mainland joins Ira to talk about the mystery of odor, and his hope that odor maps like the one developed by the AI model could bring scientists closer to identifying the odor equivalent of the three primary colors—base notes that could be mixed and blended to create all other smells. To stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters. Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

What's That Smell? An AI Nose KnowsIf you want to predict the color of something, you can talk about wavelengths of light. Light with a wavelength of around 460 nanometers is going to look blue. If you want to predict what something sounds like, frequencies can be a guide—a frequency of around 261 Hertz should sound like the musical note middle C.Predicting smells is more difficult. While we know that many sulfur-containing molecules tend to fall somewhere in the ‘rotten egg' or ‘skunky' category, predicting other aromas based solely on a chemical structure is hard. Molecules with a similar chemical structure may smell quite different—while two molecules with very different chemical structures can smell the same.This week in the journal Science, researchers describe developing an AI model that,  given the structure of a chemical compound, can roughly predict where it's likely to fall on a map of odors. For example, is it grassy? Or more meaty? Perhaps floral?Dr. Joel Mainland is one of the authors of that report. He's a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and an adjunct associate professor in the department of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Mainland joins Ira to talk about the mystery of odor, and his hope that odor maps like the one developed by the AI model could bring scientists closer to identifying the odor equivalent of the three primary colors—base notes that could be mixed and blended to create all other smells.  As Temperatures Rise, Farmworkers Are UnprotectedJuan Peña, 28, has worked in the fields since childhood, often exposing his body to extreme heat like the wave that hit the Midwest last week.The heat can cause such deep pain in his whole body that he just wants to lie down, he said, as his body tells him he can't take another day on the job. On those days, his only motivation to get out of bed is to earn dollars to send to his 10-month-old baby in Mexico.To read more, visit sciencefriday.com. The Golden Lion Tamarin Rebounds From The Brink Of ExtinctionThe Golden Lion Tamarin is a small, charismatic monkey with a mane of red fur that's a local celebrity in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. This pint-sized primate was on the brink of extinction back in the 1970s, with only about 200 left in the wild.After decades of concentrated conservation efforts, an estimated 4,800 golden lion tamarins are now living in the wild. The multi-pronged effort involved reconnecting parts of the forest that had disappeared due to deforestation, vaccinating monkeys against yellow fever, and reintroducing zoo-bred primates to the wild.Ira speaks to Carlos Ruiz Miranda, associate professor of conservation and behavior at Northern Rio de Janeiro State University in Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil. Dr. Ruiz Miranda has worked on restoring golden lion tamarin populations for decades, and was involved in every facet of this effort.  Unraveling the Mysteries Of The Y ChromosomeLast week, we briefly mentioned the sequencing and analysis of the human Y chromosome, which was recently reported in the journal Nature. It's an important achievement—the small Y chromosome is filled with repeated segments of genetic code that make reconstructing the full sequence difficult. Think of trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle—the unique parts of the picture are easy, but areas with repeated colors, like sky or waves, are more challenging.    In addition to the complete sequence of one individual's Y, other researchers compared the Y chromosomes of 43 different individuals—and found that the structure of the chromosome can vary widely from one person to another.The Y chromosome plays a key role in sex determination and sperm production, making it of interest to fertility researchers. It's also linked to some diseases and health conditions.Adam Phillippy, a senior investigator in the computational and statistical genomics branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and Kateryna Makova, a professor of biology at Penn State University, join Ira to talk about the challenges of sequencing the Y chromosome, and what doing so might mean for medical research. To stay updated on all-things-science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

Kathryn and Michelle are joined by two researchers who are trying to figure out how the world feels about their sense of smell. Valentina Palma and Jonas Yde Junge are scientists at Monell Chemical Senses Center who teamed up with researchers from Brown University and HCD Research to explore global trends around olfaction. In this episode, Kathryn and Michelle chat with them about the survey, smell tests, and what the future holds for research on smells. #olfaction #WTSD #smell Meet our guests!  Valentina Parma is the Assistant Director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, the only non-profit organization devoted to the study of smell and taste. She is a psychologist interested in human olfaction across the lifespan. Her basic and translational research both aim to find ways to use smell to improve health. Lately, she has been working at the development and validation of a rapid smell test called SCENTinel. Jonas Yde Junge is Postdoctoral Fellow at Monell Chemical Senses Center where he does research related to human olfaction and taste. He received his Ph.D. from the Food Science Department at Aarhus University in Denmark which focussed on taste interactions. Extra Information:  WTSD Survey: https://www.tasteandsmell.world/#:~:text=What%20is%20World%20Taste%20%26%20Smell,senses%20of%20taste%20and%20smell. Monell Chemical Senses Center: https://monell.org/scientists/ Be sure to give us 5 Star rating, leave a review, or subscribe to your preferred method of listening. Don't forget to also follow us on any of our social media platforms listed below. Kathryn on LinkedIn Michelle on LinkedIn HCD Research Website MindSet Website Page Sign up for HCD Newsletter  Our Socials YouTube - @HCDResearchInc. LinkedIn - @HCDResearch Twitter - @HCDNeuroscience Twitter - @HCDResearchInc Facebook - @HCDResearch Instagram - @HCDResearch MindSet is excited to have each and everyone one of you join our curious conversations! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mindset-hcd-research/message

Listen to a new Flavour Talks podcast episode, this time with Dr Nancy E. Rawson, Acting Director & President of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Accompanied by our hosts, Dr. Rawson explains Monell's vision on advancing the scientific understanding of taste & smell, where research discoveries can lead to improving nutritional health, diagnosing & treating disease, addressing smell & taste loss, as also digitizing chemosensory data.  As part of Monell's mission, we encourage listeners to sign the petition posted by The Smell and Taste Association of North America (STANA), which advocates for universal smell & taste testing, on the link below: https://www.change.org/p/support-the-grassroots-effort-to-make-smell-and-taste-testing-universal Host: Trevor Groome, Sean Ryan, Music: Aidan Kirkwood, Editing: Maria Palassarou © 2023 ⁠⁠⁠British Society of Flavourists⁠⁠

Artificial sweeteners, known more recently as non-nutritive or low-calorie sweeteners, have been a source of great hope. What could be better than enjoying sweetness in foods but without the calories? Sucralose, xylitol, stevia, saccharin, aspartame, there are a lot of them out there. You may add them to food yourself, you may consume them in beverages, and if not, there's a good chance they'll show up in foods that you buy. But, do they work and are they safe? Few know this area like Dr. Richard Mattes, distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University.  Interview Summary So Rick, thanks so much for joining us. You've done pioneering work on this area and there are a few people better positioned to discuss this topic, so I appreciate you joining us today. So let's start off with why do we need these sweeteners at all? Well, I think the primary driver here is concern about the consumption of nutritive sweeteners – sugars. It is the case that often sugars are consumed in foods that provide limited other nutritional value. So they add calories without nutrients. And then given an environment where there's concern about weight gain and obesity, there is a reasonable assumption that we can reduce sugar intake without compromising nutritional status. So, it's a good target for interventions to manage body weight. Low-calorie sweeteners, as you pointed out, are one approach that can be taken to reduce sugar intake without compromising the sensory qualities of foods. I think it's very well accepted that the sensory qualities of foods are really the primary driver of food choice. We as nutritionists would like to believe people make food choices based on nutrition. We recognize the importance of cost and convenience. But the reality is if a product does not have the right sensory properties, people just won't consume it. We have to pay attention to the sensory properties of foods. Added sugars are presently contributing about 13% of daily energy intake – so that's a very high percent without contributing a lot of nutrients. To give you a little more perspective, at the 75th percentile in the US population, that translates to about 400 kilocalories a day for males, about 300 kilocalories a day for females. If we use a 2,000 kilocalorie diet as sort of the standard, which is what's used on food packaging labels, that represents 20% for males and 15% of energy on a daily basis. It's very, very high. Now, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee from 2020 reviewed sweeteners and their relationship to body weight. In their modeling analyses they concluded that people can really only take in something on the order of 5 to 6% or so of energy from added sugars without going into positive energy balance. That is taking in more energy than we need and as a result, putting ourselves at risk for weight gain. That is based on what it would take to obtain all the necessary nutrients in the diet if we make smart food choices. There's very little discretionary room for added sugars. As a result, low-calorie sweeteners are a way to reduce total sugar intake, again, without compromising sensory quality. That makes good sense and those numbers are really quite striking. Can you give us a little bit of a sense of how much these low-calorie sweeteners are consumed and how they show up in the food supply? Well, the primary source is through sweetened beverages, but there is increasing use in solid foods as well. They are ubiquitous in the food supply, I think that's safe to say, but low calorie sweetened beverages are the primary source. There's been concern that these low-calorie sweeteners can disrupt carbohydrate metabolism and result in greater hunger and food intake. What do you think about that? Yes, this has been very extensively studied and my interpretation of the literature is that they do not disrupt carbohydrate metabolism. We know that when people consume nutritive sweeteners sugars, that they are absorbed, the blood sugar rises. That elicits the release of insulin as a way to get the sugar out of the blood and into our cells. When blood sugar levels drop and insulin levels are relatively high, that's viewed as a sort of metabolic signal that we should be hungry and be interested in eating again. However, my reading of the literature shows that low-calorie sweeteners do not elicit a rise in insulin, do not lead to a drop in blood sugar and as a result don't generate a hunger signal. But even if they did that, the question is, does a rise in blood sugar or a drop in blood sugar or a rise in insulin after a typical meal really serve as the driver, or the primary mechanism for generation of hunger signals? There's an experimental approach called euglycaemic clamp. We don't need to go into all of the details, but suffice it to say it's an approach that allows one to independently manipulate the level of glucose in the blood or the level of insulin in the blood. When those studies have been done, they demonstrate unequivocally that independent changes in glucose do not alter appetitive sensations, hunger, nor do independent manipulations of insulin. They undoubtedly change following a meal, but they are not the cause of the generation of hunger signals. So this gets right at the heart of a key question. Some people are saying that, when you consume these artificial sweeteners, they rev up the body in a way that makes you want to eat. You'll then consume as many calories as you might have if you'd been consuming sugar or maybe even overdo it. But you're saying there's not a biological basis for that in science. That's correct. I think where there is credibility to that scenario lies more in cognitive or psychological dimension. When people use a product or a food that is reduced in energy, and we require products that we purchase to label their energy content and often claims are made about them being low energy when they are, people are overly optimistic about the energy that they save when they consume these products. So they may then may be more inclined to indulge subsequent to that and overestimating the amount of energy they saved, they can indeed offset the benefit of substituting a low-calorie sweetener for a nutritive sweetener and result in higher energy intake. But that is not a biologically-driven phenomenon. It therefore requires more education in terms of how to use low-calorie sweeteners to better effect, rather than it being a biological basis that is kind of out of people's control. If people are consuming diet beverages for example, and they're getting accustomed to a high level of sweetness because they're consuming these throughout the day, does that generalize to other parts of their diet? Might they then like other things sweeter than they might have otherwise or have sort of a drive for these things? I think where there is credibility to that scenario lies more in cognitive or psychological dimension. When people use a product or a food that is reduced in energy – and we require products that we purchase to label their energy content and often claims are made about them being low energy when they are – people are overly optimistic about the energy that they save when they consume these products. So, they may be more inclined to indulge subsequent to that and overestimating the amount of energy they saved, they can indeed offset the benefit of substituting a low-calorie sweetener for a nutritive sweetener and result in higher energy intake. But that is not a biologically-driven phenomenon. It therefore requires more education in terms of how to use low-calorie sweeteners to better effect, rather than it being a biological basis that is kind of out of people's control. That seems like a really important question to nail down, doesn't it? Because what you say about salt and fat and the dairy products and things makes all the sense in the world. I know I've experienced myself with low fat dairy products compared to when I was a kid and people were drinking high-fat versions of milk and things. So if that's true and it does apply to sweetness, then you'd think the artificial sweeteners would be counterproductive because they keep people consuming sweet and not getting used to less of it over time. Does that make sense? That's a most interesting question and highly relevant right now. So there is a reasonable body of science on the effects of exposure to sensory qualities and the preferred level of that quality in foods for salt and for fat. If one consumes high salt levels, foods with high levels of salt and saltiness, they generally come to like and actually prefer foods that are high in salt. If you've gone on a diet that limits sensory exposure, it's not the amount of sodium actually consumed, it's the sensory exposure that determines this. If you limit sensory exposure to salt, you can actually come to prefer low salt foods. The same is true for fat. Probably many people have exposed themselves to low fat dairy products, for example, and over time actually come to prefer them to the higher fat versions. But the story for sweeteners is still very much unknown. There is a small amount of evidence based on short-term studies with small sample sizes that would suggest that scenario holds, at least in kids, but the largest and probably best-controlled study to date fails to find an effect of exposure to sweetness on the preference for sweetness of foods. In contrast, they find that it alters the sensory perception (that is the intensity of sweetness) but not the preference or the liking of sweetness. So the jury is still out on that scenario. Let me ask one of the bottom line question:  Are low-calorie sweeteners associated with lower or higher body weight? Yes, that's the logical conclusion. The question is whether sweetness is indeed different from salt and fat and how exposure effects work. Okay, good to know. We've been talking about these sweeteners as a group, but if we start to separate them, do the different ones have different effects on the body? So there is ammunition for different perspectives on this question. The epidemiologic data, that is the data based on surveys, pretty consistently shows that there is a positive association between consumption of low-calorie sweeteners and indices of adiposity, body fatness, things like body mass index or body weight or waist circumference. However, the evidence also in my opinion quite convincingly and strongly shows from randomized control trials that consumption of low-calorie sweeteners is associated with lower indices of adiposity, BMI, body weight. In the sort of hierarchy of scientific rigor, randomized controlled trials are viewed as stronger than these cohort studies, these survey studies. In my opinion, the strongest science shows that they're associated with lower body weight rather than higher. I'm really happy you brought up that study because it's clearly a landmark study. It's nice that you're being modest about it, but boy, it sure opens the door to some very interesting and important questions. I appreciate you doing this study and describing it today. If these compounds are having different effects because they're different biologically, which would make sense that they wouldn't all behave the same once they get inside the body. I'm assuming the same thing would probably be true for safety concerns. I know over the years, there have just been lots of things in the press about worries, about safety of these products. What do you think about that? Do you think these concerns are merited? So this is a very interesting area because we tend to speak about all low-calorie sweeteners as though they were kind of one thing. And it's true, they all impart sweetness with very little or no energy. But, does that mean that they all have the same effect in the body? We know, again, from other kinds of chemicals that that's not the case. For example, salt, sodium chloride, tastes salty, but is associated with elevation of blood pressure. Potassium chloride also tastes salty, but the potassium is associated with lower blood pressure. The fact that they share a sensory property doesn't mean that they have the same physiological effect. Yet we view all these different low-calorie sweeteners that have entirely different chemical structures as though they're the same thing. I think that the time has come to look at them individually. We conducted a study with Kelly Higgins as the first author, and compared four low-calorie sweeteners and their effects on body weight. People consumed these on a daily basis for 12 weeks. We monitored body weight, as well as things like hunger and appetite and so on, but the most important endpoint was body weight. One of the groups consumed sugar. We expected that if we asked people to consume sugar on a daily basis that they would gain weight and indeed they did. The interesting finding of the study though was when people consumed saccharin, they also gained body weight and at a rate that was comparable to the sugar. In contrast, when they consumed Splenda, they lost body weight. By the end of 12 weeks, there was a significant difference in body weight between those consuming Splenda and those consuming saccharin. So, what this suggests is that there may indeed be substantive differences in how we respond to these different commercially available and widely consumed sweeteners. I want to emphasize that this is the one and only study that has addressed this issue and we should never believe a single study, no matter how well done it is, until it's replicated. I think this is an intriguing hypothesis. I think there is logic to viewing them as potentially different. Again, they all have different chemical structures, but this requires verification. I guess because these products are used by so many millions of people, you'd think if there were negative effects, we'd know by now. But on the other hand, there are some of these products relatively new to the market compared to others like Splenda. And if this may not have immediate effects but long-term effects after somebody's consumed them after many years, we may not know yet, I'm assuming. But it sounds like from your reading of the science, there are no negative effects of these at this moment. Two levels of response to that. First, I'm not a toxicologist, so you should be cautious in interpreting my perspective on it. But these sweeteners have been highly studied by the regulatory agencies of many, many nations, the European Union, the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, around the world. And uniformly, they have concluded that when used within reasonable amounts, they are safe. And of course, that stipulation, when used in reasonable amounts, may be open to debate among people with different views in this area. But it's a qualification that would be used for any food or any nutrient. Any nutrient consumed at excessive levels becomes a drug and has effects very different from its role as a nutrient. So it's not unusual to put that qualification on such a claim. However, yes, they're different chemicals. They should be evaluated independently. As a particular sweetener is petitioned for approval, regulatory agencies do review the science for its safety independently. So for the commercially available products, I think it's safe to conclude that they are safe, but as new products are developed, they will have to be evaluated on their own merits as well. Bio Richard D. Mattes, MPH, PhD, RD, is a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University, Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Affiliated Scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His research focuses on the areas of taste function, hunger and satiety, food preferences, regulation of food intake in humans and human cephalic phase responses. At Purdue, Dr. Mattes is the Head of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center.  Outside of Purdue he was a member of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee; is a past-president of the American Society of Nutrition and Secretary of the Rose Marie Pangborn Sensory Science Scholarship Fund.  He has authored over 300 publications. Dr. Mattes earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan as well as a doctorate degree in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Moderna Clinical Trials Terribly Flawed — and FDA Knew It, Former Pharma Executive Tells RFK, Jr. South African FM: ‘Patronizing bullying' not acceptable Prescription Playground: Why so many children are now taking ADHD drugs | 60 Minutes Australia   HEALTH NEWS Chili peppers for a healthy gut: Spicy chemical may inhibit gut tumors How Tart Cherries Reduce Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Uncovering the links between diet, gut health and immunity Southern-style diet ‘increases death risk' in kidney disease patients Could Hibiscus Tea be Better than High Blood Pressure Drugs? Can breast milk feed a love of vegetables? Chili peppers for a healthy gut: Spicy chemical may inhibit gut tumors University of California, San Diego   August 1, 2022 Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that dietary capsaicin — the active ingredient in chili peppers — produces chronic activation of a receptor on cells lining the intestines of mice, triggering a reaction that ultimately reduces the risk of colorectal tumors. The receptor or ion channel, called TRPV1, was originally discovered in sensory neurons, where it acts as a sentinel for heat, acidity and spicy chemicals in the environment. TRPV1 was quickly described as a molecular ‘pain receptor.'  But Raz and colleagues have found that TPRV1 is also expressed by epithelial cells of the intestines, where it is activated by epidermal growth factor receptor or EGFR. EGFR is an important driver of cell proliferation in the intestines, whose epithelial lining is replaced approximately every four to six days. “These results showed us that epithelial TRPV1 normally works as a tumor suppressor in the intestines,” said de Jong. In addition, molecular studies of human colorectal cancer samples recently uncovered multiple mutations in the TRPV1 gene, though Raz noted that currently there is no direct evidence that TRPV1 deficiency is a risk factor for colorectal cancer in humans. The current study suggests one potential remedy might be spicy capsaicin, which acts as an irritant in mammals, generating a burning sensation in contact with tissue.  The researchers fed capsaicin to mice genetically prone to developing multiple tumors in the gastrointestinal tract. The treatment resulted in a reduced tumor burden and extended the lifespans of the mice by more than 30 percent. The treatment was even more effective when combined with celecoxib, a COX-2 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug already approved for treating some forms of arthritis and pain. “Our data suggest that individuals at high risk of developing recurrent intestinal tumors may benefit from chronic TRPV1 activation,” said Raz. “We have provided proof-of-principle.” How Tart Cherries Reduce Inflammation and Oxidative StressNorthumbria University (UK),  August 4, 2022Michigan researchers had previously shown that a cherry-enriched diet not only reduced overall body inflammation, but also reduced inflammation at key sites (belly fat, heart) known to affect heart disease risk in the obese.This study offers further promise that foods rich in antioxidants, such as cherries, could potentially reduce inflammation and have the potential to lower disease risk.”

Two daily doses of the tart cherry concentrate was associated with significantly lower levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), compared to placebo, according to findings published in Nutrients.

”This is the first study to investigate the impact of cherries on systemic inflammatory and oxidative stress induced by a series of metabolically challenging cycling bouts. Despite both groups demonstrating a similar drop off in performance and no differences in time trial performance, the results show that both oxidative stress and inflammatory responses were attenuated with Montmorency cherry concentrate supplementation versus placebo.” 

”With millions of Americans looking for ways to naturally manage pain, it's promising that tart cherries can help, without the possible side effects often associated with arthritis medications,” said Kerry Kuehl, M.D, Dr.PH., M.S., Oregon Health & Science University, principal study investigator. “I'm intrigued by the potential for a real food to offer such a powerful anti-inflammatory benefit — especially for active adults.”

Darren E. Huxley, MD says that a natural alternatives to pain medications are proving effective without unwanted side effects. “In this case we have cherries, another potent, natural antioxidant proving to be as, if not more effective than pain medications because of the ability for sustained long-term use without side effects in common anti-inflammatory drugs.Tart cherries have also been shown to contain naturally high levels of melatonin, a key compound in the human sleep-and-wake cycle, and new research in the European Journal of Nutrition confirms that melatonin from tart cherries is absorbed by humans.

In 2001, Burkhardt et al. even observed that the Montmorency variety, in particular, contains about six times more melatonin than the Balaton variety.  Uncovering the links between diet, gut health and immunity University of Sydney, August 5, 2022 A preclinical study from the University of Sydney has found a high-protein diet can change the microbiota of the gut, triggering an immune response. Researchers say the study takes us a step closer to understanding the way diet impacts gut health and immunity. “The focus of our work is on how the gut microbiota—the trillions of bacteria that inhabit the gut—affects the immune system,” said Associate Professor Laurence Macia from the University's Charles Perkins Center and Faculty of Medicine and Health. Traditionally, however, scientists have focused on the role of dietary fiber in maintaining a healthy gut. In this first-of-its-kind study, published in Nature Communications, the team from the Charles Perkins Center used sophisticated modeling to explore the impact of 10 diets with a different makeup of macronutrients—protein, fats and carbohydrate in mice. Mice fed a high protein diet increased their production of bacterial extracellular vesicles, complex cargo containing bacterial information such as DNA and protein. The body subsequently viewed this activity as a threat and triggered a sequence of events where immune cells traveled into the gut wall. “Here we found protein had a huge impact on the gut microbiota and it was not so much about the type of bacteria that were there, but the type of activity. In essence, we discovered a new way of communication between the gut bacteria and the host which was mediated by protein,” said Associate Professor Macia. While it is too early to say if this research might translate in humans, the researchers say activation of the immune system can prove either good or bad news. “By increasing antibodies in the gut you may see strong protection against potential pathogens, for example salmonella, but on the downside, an activated immune system could mean you are at increased risk of colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, or autoimmune conditions like Crohn's,” said lead author and post-doctoral researcher Jian Tan. The results appear consistent with the population impacts of modern-day diets, with the Western world seeing lower rates of gastrointestinal infection but higher rates of chronic disease.  Southern-style diet ‘increases death risk' in kidney disease patients University of Alabama  1 August 2022 New research published in the National Kidney Foundation's American Journal of Kidney Diseases suggests that eating a “Southern-style diet” is linked with higher death rates in kidney disease patients. Investigating the influence of diet on kidney disease patients, the researchers studied  3,972 participants with stage 3-5 chronic kidney disease who had not started dialysis. Analyzing the dietary habits of the participants, the researchers found that those who regularly consumed foods familiar to Southern diets had a 50% increase in risk of death across the 6.5-year follow-up period. Foods that the authors identify as being part of a Southern diet include processed and fried foods, organ meats and sweetened beverages. Could Hibiscus Tea be Better than High Blood Pressure Drugs? Tufts University,  August 4th, 2022 Naturally healing foods, including hibiscus, don't carry the side effects of pharmaceuticals and can often offer similar (or better) benefits, without padding the pockets of Big Pharma companies. This is one example of a natural solution for high blood pressure. When it comes to high blood pressure, a completely preventable condition, there are many natural solutions. Things like cayenne pepper, apple cider vinegar, and celery are just a few alternatives, along with broad dietary and lifestyle changes. But many people aren't aware of the blood pressure lowering benefits of hibiscus. Dr. Diane McKay presented her own research on hibiscus Dr. McKay, of Tufts University, conducted a study on 65 people between the ages of 30 and 70 who had been diagnosed with prehypertension or mild hypertension. After receiving hibiscus tea daily for six weeks, participants experienced reduced diastolic, systolic, and mean arterial pressures when compared with those who received a placebo. The effects were most pronounced in those with the highest beginning baseline blood pressures. In another study, scientists received a surprise when looking at the effects of hibiscus tea on blood sugar. The study compared the effects of hibiscus and black teas and found that both impacted cholesterol levels. While the black tea positively influenced HDL levels, hibiscus tea helped keep LDL, HDL, and overall cholesterol at healthy levels. Can breast milk feed a love of vegetables?  Monell Chemical Senses Center, August 4, 2022  Want your preschooler to eat veggies without a fuss? Try eating veggies while you're breast-feeding. That's the message from a new study of lactating mothers and their breast-fed babies. The study found that those infants who took in veggie-flavored breast-milk were less likely to turn away from similar-tasting cereal when they graduated to more solid food. “Every baby's sensory experience is unique, but the flavor of their first food, beginning in utero, is dependent on what mom is eating,” said Julie Mennella. She is a biopsychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, and led the study. “The way I see it is: Mother's milk is the ultimate in precision medicine,” Mennella said. When an expectant mother eats vegetables, they flavor her amniotic fluid—and later, her breast-milk—and those flavors get passed along to her baby. As a result, the researchers said, if the baby learns early how veggies taste, he or she will be less apt to squawk when offered that first spoonful. For her study, Mennella randomly assigned 97 breast-feeding mothers to one of five groups. For a month, three groups drank a half-cup of carrot, celery, beet or vegetable juice before nursing. One group began when babies were two weeks old, another at 1-1/2 months of age and the third at 2-1/2 months. A fourth group of moms drank juice for three months, starting when their babies were two weeks old. A fifth group—the “control” group—did not use juice. The takeaway: Babies who'd been exposed to vegetable flavors in breast-milk preferred carrot-flavored cereal over plain cereal or cereal with the unfamiliar taste of broccoli. Only 8 percent rejected all of the foods, the findings showed.

Not much is known about why people experience tastes differently and why some people can detect certain tastes and not others. There also might be other tastes out there to add to the list beyond the five known ones now. In this finale to Short Wave's Taste Buddies series, we're tackling the science of the five tastes, and in this episode, we look at why there is so much more research to be done. Host Aaron Scott talks to Danielle Reed from the Monell Chemical Senses Center about the controversy in taste science and about what other tastes might exist beyond sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. To listen to more episodes about how we taste, check out our Taste Buddies series: n.pr/3sSOgDBEmail the show at shortwave@npr.org.

How do our noses help us enjoy whisky? Turns out the nose has a major role to play in our enjoyment of whisky, food, and life in general. The average nose has around 400 receptors that process aromas, and they're far more sensitive than our tongues are. Dr. Paul Wise is a sensory researcher at Philadelphia's Monell Chemical Senses Center, and his work focuses on how the nose and our other senses process chemical inputs present in our daily life. He'll take us deep inside the nose for a unique WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, building a distillery on Islay wasn't enough for Elixir Distillers, which has now purchased Speyside's Tormore Distillery from Chivas Brothers. We'll hear from Elixir's Sukhinder Singh on his future plans for Tormore. We'll also have details on Sazerac's expansion in Ireland with the purchase of Lough Gill Distillery and the rest of the week's whisky news.

What is the relationship between smell and memory? Can our sense of smell improve our emotional health? Should a smell check be a part of our regular check-ups? Nancy Rawson is Vice President of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and holds a master's degree in nutrition from the University of Massachusetts and a doctorate in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her career spans academia and industry, including a faculty position at the Monell Center studying how age and health impacts taste and smell, and various roles in the food and ingredient industries where she built research teams from the ground up and received awards for new product innovation. Since 2016, she has been at Monell, working to catalyze and manage Monell's relationships with nearly 40 corporate partners and lead strategic and operational planning activities to support the Center's growth and success. She continues to advance research into taste and smell disorders, is a founding advisor for the Smell and Taste Association of North America and is committed to increasing awareness of the importance of taste and smell for our health and wellbeing.  Episode Mentions and Resources: Abscent.org Smell training and other Anosmia (loss of smell) resources Monell COVID-19 Resources World taste and smell day is Sept 14th! SCENTinel 1.0: Development of a Rapid Test to Screen for Smell Loss Follow Nancy: Twitter | LinkedIn Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/nancyrawson More episode sources & links Sign-up for Design Lab Podcast's Newsletter Newsletter Archive Follow @DesignLabPod on Twitter Instagram and LinkedIn Follow @BonKu on Twitter & Instagram Check out the Health Design Lab Production by Robert Pugliese Cover Design by Eden Lew Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Why isn't my kid eating green beans or zucchini or, for that matter, any food that isn't beige? It's a headache for so many parents. One theory holds that, with the help of the right bribe, you can teach kids to like anything. And so Jane dragoons her 10-year-old daughter Lucy into an experiment to see if she can learn to accept her most dreaded food: tomatoes. Jane and Liz talk to Julie Mennella, a taste scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center to learn just what it takes to make kids eat their vegetables, and serve up the simplest tips and tricks for parents to win the vegetable wars without losing their minds.

On this episode, Dr. Mattes explains his expertise in how the sensory properties of food affect not only food choice in individuals but also the digestion and metabolism of certain foods in the body. Dr. Mattes is a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University, Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and Affiliated Scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His research focuses on the areas of taste function, hunger and satiety, food preferences, regulation of food intake in humans, and human cephalic phase responses. At Purdue, Dr. Mattes is the Head of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center. Outside of Purdue, he was a member of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee; is a past-president of the American Society of Nutrition, and Secretary of the Rose Marie Pangborn Sensory Science Scholarship Fund. He has authored over 295 publications. Dr. Mattes earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan as well as a doctorate degree in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Quote: “... I think the best nutritional advice is still balanced, moderation and variety." Question of the Day: How much do sensory factors, such as taste and texture, influence your food choices? On This Episode You Will Learn: How the sensory properties of foods and sensory capacities of people influence nutrition. What kinds of taste qualities tend to have positive and negative effects on energy balance in the body. How is the sensation of fattiness detected and what are its health implications? How can understanding the effects of sensory properties of food help people improve their diets? Connect with Yumlish! Website Instagram Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Connect with Richard! Website Email Key Points: 0:00: Intro with Shireen 1:06: How you found yourself interested in public health, sensory science and nutrition science in your work? 3:59: Can you describe how the sensory properties of foods and sensory capacities of people influence nutrition? 8:04: So what kinds of tastes qualities tend to have positive and negative effects on energy balance in the body? 10:25: Can the effects of these taste qualities be manipulated in a way to improve health? 14:44: How has the sensation of fattiness detected and what are its health implications? 18:27: How can understanding the effects of sensory properties of food help people improve their diets? 21:30: How can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your work? 21:59: Wrap Up & Question of the Day! 22:42: Outro with Shireen --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yumlish/message

We examine the forces and individuals that have shaped food culture, investigate how our tastes change with age, and ponder how taste is evaluated by arbiters like the Michelin guide and food media. Chef Val Cantu of Californios, the only two-Michelin-star Mexican restaurant in the world, addresses racist stereotypes around Mexican food. We speak with author Mayukh Sen about his recent book, Taste Makers, which tells the stories of seven immigrant women who have influenced American cuisine. A brief look at the history of the Michelin guide reveals the organization's involvement in French colonialism, and accusations of cultural bias in the star selection process. Plus, we learn how our physical senses of taste and smell change over time.Further Reading:If you are interested in dining at Californios, you can make reservations here. Read more about Mayukh Sen's book,Taste Makers, here.For more information on the history of the Michelin Guide, go here. And for more on the history of Michelin in Vietnam, check this and this out. For the first person account referenced in the story, check out Tran Tu Binh's memoir.To learn more about Gary Beauchamp and his work at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, check out his profile. Dig further into how age impacts taste here and here.Keep Meat and Three on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate.Meat and Three is powered by Simplecast.

Did you know that smell and taste loss can affect our personal safety, mental and physical health, and overall quality of life? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Danielle Reed, Ph.D. Associate Director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, based in Philadelphia, PA. Reed shares insights from her research investigating differences in the loss of taste and smell as a result of COVID-19 infections and other conditions. Reed is a member of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research. Related website:  https://monell.org/smell-taste-loss/ 

Dr. Michelle Niedziela is a behavioral neuroscientist experienced in both academia and industry.  Michelle began her career as a post-doctoral fellow at Monell Chemical Senses Center working on research of functional foods. She continued her career at Johnson & Johnson where she specialized in innovation technologies for consumer products. At Mars Chocolate, Michelle worked on global sensory projects, and in her current role as VP of Research and Innovation at HCD Research, Michelle focuses on integrating applied consumer neuroscience tools with traditional sensory methods to measure consumer response with the goal of providing a comprehensive account of consumer decision making.     Kathryn Ambroze is a behavioral neuroscientist with experience in consumer research and methodological innovation. She currently works at HCD Research as the Manager of Behavioral and Marketing Sciences focusing on methodological development and innovation applying neuroscience and psychological tools to consumer and market research.   Michelle Niedziela on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-niedziela-phd-b581a712/   Kathryn Ambroze on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynambroze   HCD Research: https://www.hcdi.net/   HCD Research Twitter: https://twitter.com/hcdresearchinc   To learn more about Aigora, please visit www.aigora.com

What are the smells of your childhood? In this episode, Angelica and Bey chat with Dr. Nancy Rawson, Vice President of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, about the deep world of our senses and the future of human smell. Show Links Learn more about https://monell.org/nancy-rawson/ (Nancy Rawson) https://beyond.fi.edu/podcasts/so-curious-episode-5-transcript/ (View episode transcript)

Many people around the world have lost their sense of smell this past year due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, scientists had already begun to gain a deeper understanding of how sophisticated our sense of smell is and how it is intertwined with our mental and physical health. Now, the pandemic is giving that research new urgency. Pamela Dalton, PhD, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, discusses what we know about how our sense of smell works, the connections between smell, emotions and memory, how a rapid smell test could improve COVID-19 screening, how she developed the “world's worst smell,” and more. Links Pamela Dalton, PhD Monell Chemical Senses Center Music Electronic Ambient Loop by tyops via Freesound.org

Pumpkin spice latte, roasting turkey, butter-drenched stuffing ... Holiday smells conjure memories. But for people experiencing side effects of Covid-19, a sense of smell can suddenly be non-existent, or even repulsive. Dr. Danielle Reed of the ‘Monell Chemical Senses Center' describes how smell works, why it affects taste and what can go awry. Then we meet Kim Minton and Cristen Scifo. They've been coping with loss or distortion of smell and taste for more than a year. Its effects can be frustrating, depressing and confounding. Cristen says: “The cravings for food don't go away. I crave Chinese food like once or twice a week. Can I have it? No absolutely not. Because I take one smell of it, and it's repulsive. And that's something I used to love.” Original airdate: 11.22.21 Links: Monell Chemical Senses Center, Anosmia recipes. AJ+ video describing loss of smell. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pumpkin spice latte, roasting turkey, butter-drenched stuffing! Holiday smells conjure memories. But for people experiencing side effects of Covid-19, a sense of smell can suddenly be non-existent, or even repulsive. Dr. Danielle Reed of the Monell Chemical Senses Center describes how smell works, why it affects taste and what can go awry. Then we meet Kim Minton and Cristen Scifo. They've been coping with loss or distortion of smell and taste for more than a year. Its effects can be frustrating, depressing and confounding. Cristen says: “The cravings for food don't go away. I crave Chinese food like once or twice a week. Can I have it? No absolutely not. Because I take one smell of it, and it's repulsive. And that's something I used to love.” Links: Monell Chemical Senses Center, Anosmia recipes. AJ+ video describing loss of smell. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we started the transition from a western carnivorous diet to a WFPB diet, we struggled with giving up certain processed foods like chips, cookies, chocolate, and crackers. Why couldn't we just stop with just eating one cookie or a few chips? Why did we want to eat the whole bag? We bought a book entitled, Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, by Michael Moss and learned from it that our addiction to processed foods was not all our fault. The food industry has a big part in this processed food addiction. An addiction is an inability to stop using a substance or engaging in a behavior even though it is causing psychological or physical harm. The term addiction does not only refer to dependence on substances such as heroin or cocaine. Some addictions also involve an inability to stop partaking in activities such a gambling, eating, or working. Addiction to food is included in this definition. The food industry has invented foods and flavors in an attempt to sell more of their products and get us hooked on them in order to increase sales. To help with this they have turned to the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia to study the science of why we are so attracted to sugar. The Monell Center tested 356 children, ages 5-10 to determine their bliss point for sugar. The bliss point is the precise amount of sweetness, that makes food most enjoyable. The bliss point is a powerful phenomenon and dictates what we eat and drink more than we realize. There are five primary tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. Fat isn't one of these. And yet, fat has remarkable powers that the processed food industry relies heavily upon. It can transform a food from dry and listless into a silky smooth, texture-rich, savory delight. It improves tenderness, color and mouth-feel. In addition, it increases the shelf-life of a multitude of products from days to months. And it increases profit margins on cheaper cuts of meat because there is less meat and more fat. Scientist Adam Drewnowski determined that unlike sugar, fat has no bliss point. The more fat there was, the better. The highest levels of fat that were tested, in this case heavy cream, tasted even better with added sugar. He learned that adding both fat and sugar increased the allure of food that neither sugar nor fat alone could reach. Studies have shown that babies love sugar the instant they're born, but not salt. The scientists at Monell have been studying our desire for salt and they believe that salt is being pressed upon American kids. It turns out that the manufacturers of processed foods have been creating a desire for salt where none existed before. Why does the food industry do this? One reason is that the salty taste drives people to keep eating until the bag is empty. In addition, salt improves the taste. Cornflakes taste metallic without salt. Crackers without salt are bitter and soggy and stick to the roof of your mouth. Ham is rubbery. In baking bread, salt keeps the fast-spinning machinery from gumming up. Even more important is the problem of what the industry calls, “warmed-over-flavor” WOF (like a dog's bark) for short. When the fats in meat oxidize, the meat tastes like cardboard. Some in the industry compare this to damp dog hair when it is reheated and added to soups or boxed meals. It's the WOF that the industry is desperate to avoid, which is where salt comes in. Salt is one of the most effective counteractive measures against WOF from the meat's deterioration. Food addiction is heavily influenced by the food industry as products are chemically and scientifically engineered to create craving and a never ending desire for more. That's what you can expect when you eat processed foods. To us, this plays a major role in modern day food addiction.

How much do you know about your sense of smell? Do you still have it? What if there was a way to restore it?In this episode Judy and Travis interview doctors Hong Wang & Nancy Rawson, researchers from Monell Chemical Senses Center. Monell was the first center in the US dedicated to  studying the senses of smell and taste. You can learn more about their amazing research at www.monell.orgEnjoy!                           

It's Episode 4, Smell Loss and Dysfunction. The Absence of a sense of smell is called Anosmia. Some are born without it, and others lose it for a variety of reasons, including head trauma or illness, such as a viral infection. When smell loss emerged as a feature of Covid-19 in March of 2020, it signaled a change for the field of chemosensory research, meaning the research of smell and taste, our chemical senses. It's estimated that over 9 million people worldwide will have sustained smell loss. The community of scientists and patients who were studying and dealing with smell loss and dysfunction are at a unique moment, and they have responded in powerful ways. Jenifer Trachtman, Director of Development at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, will share resources, and talk about this turning point in her field and what moving forward looks like. We'll hear from Dr. Danielle Reed, a researcher at the Monell Center and one of the founding members of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, better known as the GCCR, which is a group of dedicated scientists and advocates that formed to share information and advance scientific knowledge about the correlation between the chemical senses and respiratory illnesses like Covid-19. Katie Boateng, an anosmic patient advocate herself, is the creator of the Smell Podcast. She'll share her wisdom from over 90 episodes. While this episode will focus mostly on Anosmia, you'll also hear mentions of Smell Dysfunctions. Parosmia is a distorted sense of smell, where things that used to smell nice can smell unpleasant. Hyposmia is a decreased sense of smell, and Phantosmia is a condition where smells are perceived that are not there, it's sometimes referred to as having olfactory hallucinations. Please check out the resources offered in this episode and if you or a loved one is new to smell loss or dysfunction, from Covid or otherwise, pull up, this one's for you.  

Our sense of smell can bring us quick bursts of joy, like a whiff of bread baking, that freshly brewed cup of coffee, or your favorite perfume. But it's also an important alarm system, alerting us to dangers ranging from gas leaks to spoiled food. Even though smell is such an important part of how we experience the world, it's been studied far less than our other senses. This came into sharper focus during the pandemic, when COVID-19 left millions of people without their sense of smell, and without answers. On this episode, we explore our sense of smell and its connection to our health, emotions, and memory. We talk about the mechanics of smell, and how smell connects to our memories. We investigate whether humans emit pheromones that make them attractive to others. We meet a woman who's struggled with parosmia — a distorted sense of smell — ever since she contracted COVID-19. And we visit a smell lab that deals with some of the worst smells on Earth — in an effort to contain them in space. Also heard on this week’s episode: Pamela Dalton, an olfactory scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, joins us to explore the connection between smell and memory, and what happens when we lose our sense of smell. Monell has been a global leader in smell and taste research for decades. After Sakeenah Benjamin recovered from COVID-19 at the end of last summer, something strange started happening — her sense of smell was distorted. She joins us to talk about her experience with this condition, which is called parosmia.

Many people around the world have lost their sense of smell this past year due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, scientists had already begun to gain a deeper understanding of how sophisticated our sense of smell is and how it is intertwined with our mental and physical health. Now, the pandemic is giving that research new urgency. Pamela Dalton, PhD, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, discusses what we know about how our sense of smell works, the connections between smell, emotions and memory, how a rapid smell test could improve COVID-19 screening, how she developed the “world’s worst smell,” and more. Links Pamela Dalton, PhD Monell Chemical Senses Center Music Electronic Ambient Loop by tyops via Freesound.org

The desire for sweetness is biologically hardwired in humans, according to Dr. Gary Beauchamp, longtime former director and president of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. It is an evolutionary response that developed way back when sweet things were hard to find in the natural environment. Now, we can find sweets just about anywhere.  Part of our global trade mini-series, this episode focuses on all things sweet! Ironically, the history of sugar comes with some bitter truths. Stories include the problematic journey of the cocoa bean from West Africa to chocolate products in the U.S., farmers pushing back against “Big Sugar,” cultural appropriation at the National Date Festival, and the intertwined history of Silk Road merchants and the first domesticated apples.Next week, we continue our exploration of food and trade with stories about spice.Further Reading:Get your own copy of “Fruit from the Sands: The Silk Road Origins of the Foods We Eat” by Robert Spengler hereRead more about Dr. Leissle’s work hereRead Professor Nestle’s comments on the federal government’s controversial new dietary guidelines. You can follow her critiques of the food industry on her blog, Food Politics, and in some of her recent books, like Unsavory Truth, published in 2018.Learn more about Gilliard Farms on their website. And check out Jupiter’s Almanac, Matthew Raiford’s show on Heritage Radio Network.Learn more about Dandelion Chocolate’s single-origin chocolate here Follow Dr. Sarah (McCormick) Seekatz on Twitter and check out her book, Images of America: Indio’s Date Festival to learn more about the history of California’s date industry.Keep Meat and Three on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. Meat and Three is powered by Simplecast.

Bridget speaks with Dr. Danielle Reed from the Monell Chemical Senses Center about the genetics of taste perception. To learn more about the Monell Center’s research, visit monell.org.

Humans that eat rotting flesh, Hummingbirds with no sweet receptors, and giant pandas that can't detect umami. These are just a few of the subjects that bridge the illustrative career of Gary Beauchamp, Emeritus Director and President, Monell Chemical Senses Center. He's considered  one of the world’s leading experts on chemosensory science. Join us for this fascinating exploration of flavor and taste.

Dr. Reed is the Associate Director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, which is a non-profit research institute with scientists that use a multidisciplinary approach to study taste and smell. ​ She has a ​Bachelor of Science ​degree from the ​University of Washington ​and a Ph.D. from ​Yale University. She trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Scientists in her laboratory study how genotype account for personal differences in taste perception.​ Currently, she is on the leadership committee for the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research which is studying the effects of COVID-19 on taste and smell. ​   Homepage: http://www.monell.org/faculty/people/danielle_reed LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-reed-457a538/ Twitter: @DanielleRReed   To learn more about Aigora, please visit www.aigora.com

This week, please join me in listening to an interview with Dr. Danielle Reed, from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Reed and I talk about how the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research (GCCR) was formed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more about Dr. Reed's work with the Monell Center, click here. To learn more about the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, click here. To take the GCCR survey in English, click here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/support

Rachel Herz of Brown and Boston College talks about food psychology. Linda Bartoshuk of the University of Florida examines miracle fruit. Gary Beauchamp of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia on umami. Anne-Marie Chiramberro explains the Basque diaspora. Stephan Mansfield visits with us about the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq and Syria.

Why do we like to eat certain foods? Why do some people like to eat spicy food? And what's up with kids not liking vegetables? Why does pineapple hurt your mouth when you eat too much of it? Why do we taste things and how? Why do different foods taste different? Do animals have the same taste buds as people? In this episode of But Why we get answers to all of those questions from chef, author, and TV personality Chris Kimball, Dr. Leslie Stein of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and Vermont-based chef and cookbook author Matthew Jennings.

Rachel Herz of Brown and Boston College talks about food psychology. Linda Bartoshuk of the University of Florida examines miracle fruit. Gary Beauchamp of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia on umami. Anne-Marie Chiramberro explains the Basque diaspora. Stephan Mansfield visits with us about the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq and Syria.

Dr. Michelle Niedziela is a behavioral neuroscientist experienced in both academia and industry.  Michelle began her career as a post-doctoral fellow at Monell Chemical Senses Center working on research of functional foods. She continued her career at Johnson & Johnson where she specialized in innovation technologies for consumer products. At Mars Chocolate, Michelle worked on global sensory projects and in her current role as VP of Research and Innovation at HCD Research, Michelle focuses on integrating applied consumer neuroscience tools with traditional sensory methods to measure consumer response with the goal of providing a comprehensive account of consumer decision making.   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-niedziela-phd-b581a712/ HCD Research: http://www.hcdi.net/ HCD Research on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hcd-research/   To learn more about Aigora, please visit www.aigora.com

Sara Ruane of Rutgers University- Newark shares her enthusiasm for snakes and reptiles. Jeremiah Smith of the University of Kentucky will speak to us on the mysterious Axolotis. Author Alan Jasanoff of MIT joins with us to discuss the great enigma of the human mind. Finally, Gary Beachamp of the Monell Chemical Senses Center speaks on the flavor of Umami.

Gary Cantrell of Barkley Marathons describes his legendary race. NASA's Harold Connolly talks about the OSIRIS-REx mission and which asteroids might impact Earth. Gary Beauchamp of Monell Chemical Senses Center discovered some medicinal properties of olive oil. Fancois Barthelat of McGill University designs oyster-inspired glass.

This week, I invite you all to listen to BBC Radio 4 presenter, Kathy Clugston's story about living with congenital anosmia. You can find the interview on the BBC website here. To donate to the Facebook campaign benefiting the Monell Chemical Senses Center, click here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/support

This week, listen in as I chat with Dr. Federica Genovese from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Dr. Genovese discusses her work at the Monell Center including research on the trigeminal nerve, what it is, how it works, and how it might have something to do with migraines. If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Genovese, please visit https://www.monell.org/faculty/people/federica_genovese. To learn more about her research with microvillous cells (which she briefly mentions towards the end), visit https://www.monell.org/news/news_releases/microvillous_sentinel_Tizzano_SCC_olfaction. You can email Dr. Genovese at fgenovese@monell.org and follow her on Twitter @FedericaGenove5. You can find more information and register now for the SmellTaste 2019 conference at www.smelltaste.org. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/support

This week, listen in as I chat with Dr. Beverly Cowart, a scientist, with the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia about her work, olfactory training, and the future of smell research! If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Cowart, please visit https://www.monell.org/faculty/people/cowart. To learn more about anosmia research at the Monell Center, visit https://www.monell.org/research/anosmia/related_monell_research. To learn more about the SmellTaste 2019 conference, visit http://www.smelltaste.org/. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesmellpodcast/support

Ever wonder how children develop preferences for certain foods? Why in the same family, different children may like different things? Why some people have trouble controlling what they eat and others think a little about food that they have trouble eating enough? These are some, but some of the questions that occupy The Leading Voices in Food guest Dr. Marion Hetherington. About Marion Hetherington Dr. Marion Hetherington is a professor of biopsychology at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Marion studies human appetite across the lifespan from infancy on. She's particularly interested in what we can learn from the way that infants and young children express their hunger and satiety, how they develop food preferences and how mothers respond to children's appetite cues. She runs the Human Appetite Research Unit at the University of Leeds where her team takes a lifespan approach to studying the appetite and aging. Such research includes topics such as triggers for overeating and in young adults, how young people respond to environmental pressures to overconsume and managing malnutrition at the end of life. Interview Summary A topic of considerable interest in the field now is responsive feeding, and you've done some seminal work on that topic. Can you explain the concept of responsive feeding? Yes, responsive feeding is really just an example of responsive parenting where parents respond appropriately and quickly to the child's needs. So it might be that a child is indicating hunger and so responsive feeding would mean that that parent would respond by feeding, but responsive feeding also means picking up on those cues regarding satiety. And we found in our research that parents are very attuned to hunger because hunger calls as hunger cries are very distressing, but with satiety, they are more subtle and parents don't always listen to their child because they're worried about waste on the plate. And also some parents don't really believe that their child is capable of nutritional wisdom, and I think some parents think they know best. So responsive feeding is really a hot topic at the moment. It's something that we're very keen to understand more, but we're really just at the beginning of our studies. So a parent that might believe that whatever is on a plate is what a child could should consume or whatever is in a bottle, if the child was bottle feeding? And rather than the child determining when the shutoff should occur, the parents are determining that. Is that what response feeding is hoping to overcome? Yes indeed. So if you think about the typical breastfed baby, it's really very difficult to overfeed a breastfed baby because, generally speaking, moms are very attuned to their baby's feeding from the breast. And, they recognize that sometimes babies will come to the breast because they're thirsty. Sometimes it's because they're very hungry and sometimes it's just for comfort. So mothers are very aware that when they have the baby at the breast, it might be for one of these many reasons. Whereas with bottle feeding, as you've just said, there's a kind of visual cue to mom that there's a lot of milk within that bottle and the tendency is for moms to encourage their baby to complete that bottle. But this doesn't mean to say the all formula fed babies on not fed responsively, but rather that their mothers can be sensitive to portion size and may not trust their baby to tell them when they've had enough. But I think that when we think about low-income families, when we think about moms on a budget, it is tough to realize then that actually--maybe the baby was just a little bit thirsty or a little bit grumpy. And we need to put that bottle aside. So you then we need to, you know, get rid of that bottle because that can't be used again. And similarly with a plate of food. Moms or dads and might present a plate of food thinking that this is appropriate portion size. But babies' appetites might change and it is okay if maybe say that they've had enough. The way that they say they've had enough is actually quite subtle, and parents need to really tune into that and trust that their baby's know what they're doing. So what are some of the subtle cues a parent might be coached to learn that the child might display? Well, certainly in terms of offering a food with, say a spoon. Baby's will accept the spoon readily when they're hungry, and in fact, babies might lean forward in anticipation of getting that spoon full of food. But after a few spoonfuls of that food, if they start to gaze away from the food, if they start to be interested in something else that's on their tray, such as a toy or the tray itself, the baby's gaze is shifting away from what they're interested in. Which suggests to us that they're beginning to show signs of satiation. And then if mom persists in feeding with the spoon, baby maybe might start to use much more obvious behaviors like turning the head away when food is offered or pushing the spoon away. They may even become tearful because that's communication of distress if they feel that they've had enough of that food and they don't want anymore and they're not really being listened to. So I think the cry is kind of an endpoint that not many babies get to. But certainly, we've often seen parents using a kind of mini airplane to give their babies a spoonful of food. If the babies are turning away they're not interested, then trust that baby had enough. This must be hard for some parents, I can imagine if they're worried about their children are getting enough food. Absolutely. And in the cases where children are weight faltering, and they're not making appropriate weights--and of course parents are going to be very worried and they really need to seek clinical advice. But, when a baby is being a little fussy or when a baby normally has a good appetite but it is not eating that day, I think that moms and dads need to be sensitive to what the baby is saying. What we've found is that in our research, parents really hone in on hunger. They're very aware and very adept at listening to hunger signals even when it's just at the early stages such as when babies are rustling in their crib or their begin to get a little bit agitated. Parents will respond. And yet with satiation or satiety, we see parents persisting because they think it's the right thing that their baby should eat this amount or this type of food that they're very keen for them to try. But babies vary so much in relation to their eating traits. Some babies are more fussy than others. Some babies are more attuned to their own satiety cues than others. And, some babies will vary in eating enjoyment just as you said earlier. There are some children who are just not that interested in food. And yes, it's a challenge for parents. But, if there's a repertoire that they know that babies will consume, those are the foods they ought to be using, as long as it's a variety. Is there enough research yet to know whether parents can be successfully coached to read these cues and then whether a change in their parenting practices will affect the diet and health of the children? Well, there's a World Health Organization report, I think it's from 2006, where they define responsive parenting. And in that report, they say that there are interventions to encourage parents to be more sensitive, more responsive to their children. And this can actually promote cognitive development, psychosocial developments, and health. So in a broad sense, the answer is yes, parents can be coached, and parents can be given some guidance about how to read their children. However, the question you asked might be specific therefore to feeding, and as far as I'm aware, there are fewer studies looking at responsive feeding. But if we think about trials such as Insight Trial at Penn State University or the Nourish Trial as to the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, both of those trials have used weekly groups with parents to help them to understand their child's communication better. And in both of those examples, they do show that parents are very amenable to be coached in this way. Turning our attention to vegetables and encouraging children that eat them in particular, I suspect nearly every parent can relate to the struggle of encouraging children to eat and love vegetables. Part of your work focuses on how to promote vegetables in early life feeding experiences and during the preschool years. What would you most like people to understand about feeding children vegetables? I guess if there was one message that I'd want to convey from our research it's that vegetables are actually a very good first food. So when moms are ready to introduce their little one to solid foods for the first time at six months, vegetables are a really good food to use. That's because six months and just beyond at complementary feeding time, young babies are really amenable to these new tastes. But if you try to introduce vegetables a little bit later on, so for example, at school age, then it's more tricky. So any of the studies that we've looked at where we're looking at when to introduce vegetables, the best time is around a complementary feeding and then to encourage a variety of different vegetables. Parents need to model vegetable eating because in their household, if vegetables aren't typically eaten, then the little ones are not going to really be encouraged to eat the vegetables if they don't see it around them. So we would say early on in life and, in fact judging from the studies by Julie Menella at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, her studies show that really moms could be eating vegetables during pregnancy and that those flavors, some of those flavor components, are transmitted to the fetus. Therefore we would even say start complementary feeding with vegetables, but also eat a lot of vegetables in pregnancy because we know that some of those volatiles from the vegetables are being transmitted in utero. Are there certain vegetables that make sense for parents to begin with? If they're introducing them early? I think a lot of parents are very keen to use the sweeter vegetables like carrots and sweet potato. However, we would say that from our research, the more sulfurous vegetables and metallic vegetables like green beans are really good starting vegetables because these are the sorts of vegetables that need a little bit more exposure. So if you think about the sweet vegetables, babies are born with an innate liking for sweetness because breast milk is sweet. And therefore it doesn't take a lot of encouragement for a baby to like a vegetable that has a sweet note. Whereas those vegetables are a little bit more bitter, they're the difficult ones. But at six months and a little bit beyond that at complementary feeding babies are very amenable to try these because they have no expectations. They don't yet have any learned dislikes. Bitterness is generally rejected in early life, but the bitter taste can be acquired through exposure. So we find in our research that between five and six exposures to vegetables such as green bean or broccoli will encourage the child to like that vegetable. Some children will need 10 exposures. But our message is always around encouraging parents to be persistent and to be patient and not to give up. One week, they don't like Broccoli, nevermind. Try again next week, but always try because we think that with repeated exposure comes a liking for the vegetable through familiarity. It's interesting that this was both a biological and a social process isn't it. The mother's diet during pregnancy being influential, but of course what the parents eat themselves and what they introduced to the children kind of all fits together into this really amazing picture of how children could come to like fruits and vegetable. It's really very impressive. Well, I think biology is very important because obviously babies are born with the capacity to like sweetness. The beautiful studies by Yacob Steiner in the 1970's showed us that newborn babies, even before they'd had their first exposure to colostrum or breast milk, when they were given these pure tastes, such as sweetness or sourness through citric acid or bitterness through quinine sulfate or saltiness through sodium chloride, babies already have a positive liking for sucralose in solutions. They already like sweetness, so there's no learning needed to acquire preferences for sweet vegetables or fruits. But something that's slightly bitter will take a little bit longer. And we have done studies where we've actually tried to add sweetness to some vegetables, so we had the artichoke as an example, and we've added a little bit of sweetness to artichoke or a little bit of oil to artichoke to increase its energy density. And in both of these cases, there is no additional benefit of adding any sweetness or adding any oil because children acquire liking for artichoke as for any other vegetable through mere exposure. And there's no need to add that biological imperative of a sweet taste. It's not needed. You worked on as the genetic risk for obesity in children, and you've done work especially with FTO risk allele and child eating behavior. Could you describe that work? So this is a research going back more than 10 years now. Basically we had a large cohort of children in the northeast of Scotland and we were able to genotype the children looking at the FTO allele. What we found was that the children who carried the risk allele were heavier than the children who did not show that allele. And then when we studied them in a little bit more detail, we find out that those children who carried the FTO risk allele were less likely than the other children to compensate appropriately for a preload. So it's hard for those children to compensate for a large preloads given in midmorning. And we also found that they tended to eat more overall even when you adjust for their energy expenditure. So this research is basically saying that some children have a predisposition towards perhaps eating a little bit more than their counterparts, their peers, and that can be managed. Because in Swedish studies where they have these very large populations, they can look at the FTO risk allele in the population and those who carry that allele, but who exercise and who have a diet that has lots of low energy density foods. Those individuals are protected against overweight and obesity. So we're looking at the genetics of obesity. We're looking at predisposition, but we're not looking at destiny. So just because those risk alleles are carried, doesn't mean to say that the children will have overweight or obesity as they get older. Basically looking for those appetite traits where the child is hungry or really very interested in food is a kind of signal to us to be cautious around how we treat the child. We need to make sure that they're eating lots of low energy density foods which are very filling, high in fiber, rather than the high energy density foods which are very palatable, but they deliver a lot more energy per gram. That's not easy to do in this environment where those sorts of foods are engineered to be so palatable. They're so highly marketed, aren't they? That's true. It's very difficult and it doesn't really help. In the UK, we use high energy density foods as treats. So we just had Halloween. It's been really interesting. At my door I had 30-40 kids and I offered a tangerine as well as Halloween candy. I did my own little mini-experiment-- and of course the children--they'll choose both, but they really go for the candy. First of all, because it's so palatable and there's a biological component to that. We know that they're very sweet, very energy dense, and therefore very attractive. So you're right, it's very hard for kids to resist these foods and the culture that we live in promotes this idea of these foods as treats. But in a sense if the kids are eating them every day, they've lost that identity as a treat. So I think this is a really complicated social issue, and I can't really speak to the major drivers in relation to confectionary or these other highly palatable foods, but what I can say is that some children are more interested in those stimuli than others. And we can see that really early on because we know that certain eating treats are highly heritable, such as low satiety, responsiveness, high enjoyment of food. And I guess what we have to think about is both tackling an obesogenic environment but also preparing our children by offering them a healthy balanced diet from the very beginning. And particularly I would say ensuring that they really like the variety of vegetables. If you could peer into the future, what would be your guess about what some of the most exciting work will be around these issues? I think in terms of future trends, the use of phone apps is very exciting to me. Because of the comfort of your handset, your smartphone, you have the opportunity to introduce vegetables into the diet and have a way of kind of monitoring food intake and personalizing nutrition using smart apps. And I think that of course this is already with us, it's not really peering into the future. But I think that in the future we will become more reliant on technology such as this to help guide us in terms of encouraging us to be more physically active, to encourage us to eat a better diet. But you know, that's always down to motivation, isn't it? So I'm a psychologist, and ultimately I will say that it's always going to be partly to do with the individual and partly to do with how they interact with what's available to them. But I'm very excited about apps for moms both for pregnancy so that we can look at dietary interventions really early on in the life of the fetus and then making that start for good healthy eating really as early as possible around the time of conception in fact.   Produced by Deborah Hill at the Duke World Food Policy Center

What are the ingredients of a good relationship? Trust? Communication? Compromise? How about a sense of smell? When researchers in the United Kingdom surveyed almost 500 people with anosmia (the loss of sense of smell), more than 50 percent of them reported feeling isolated, and blamed their relationship troubles on their affliction. Smell is important in social bonding, says psychologist Pamela Dalton, at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, in Philadelphia. When a mom smells her newborn baby, the scent activates brain regions associated with nurturing behavior. Smells might also trigger brain activity linked with affection, compassion, or romantic love. Jeff and Anthony give this story the sniff test. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhconcerns Or, you can send us mail! Our address: We Have Concerns c/o WORLD CRIME LEAGUE 1920 Hillhurst Ave #425 Los Angeles, CA 90027-2706 Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story: http://nautil.us/blog/-if-you-cant-smell-him-can-you-love-him If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com, post in on our Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/WeHaveConcerns/ or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns

Dallas College professor Patrick Moore, seeing his dog Abbey eating her own poo and swallowing dirty socks, wonders how animal tastebuds work. Danielle Reed, associate director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, takes a break from feeding her cat Diet Coke to talk about the chemical properties of taste. Both cheese and sweaty socks smell like isovaleric acid. Dogs being omnivores unconstrained by the social cues that govern human behavior are going to go ahead and see if that sock is food. Host Andrew Norton would rather have listeners thinking about Mac and Cheese but he has his own taste issues. Maybe it’s in genetics?

Many American children have developed a strong, stubborn preference for sweet and salty processed food before their second birthdays. If they haven’t, it could well be because they became accustomed to healthier flavors much earlier, beginning in breast milk or even in utero. What babies taste in the first weeks and months of life really matters, says Dr. Julie Menella of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Her research suggests that school meals can only ever be just one of a much larger set of interventions, and that some of them need to occur before students are even born. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery “During childhood we learn what to eat, how to eat, how food should taste. Many children aren’t getting the experience to learn to like (healthy) food.” [11:00] “It can’t just be school, it starts in the home. As much as we’re focusing on the school nutrition program we have to focus on the barriers for healthy eating for families at home.” [13:00] –Dr. Julie Menella on Inside School Food

Dr. Paul Breslin is a Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University, a Member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology of the School of Dental Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Paul has received many awards and honors during his career, including a Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges Explorations Award in 2009 for Malaria Research as well as one in 2011 for Childhood Nutrition Research. He has also received the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in the area of perception and motor performance and was  recently awarded the 2014 North America service award from the Food, Nutrition, and Safety Program of the International Life Sciences Institute. Paul is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

If you asked people which of their senses they most feared losing, they'd probably say sight or hearing. But what about the ability to smell? This episode of Distillations examines what is perhaps our most underrated sense, and ponders what life would be like without it. We hit the streets of South Philadelphia to understand how a pervasive odor troubled neighborhood residents in the summer of 2014. Then we hear the story of Mario Rivas, a man who has lived his whole life without a sense of smell, and the great lengths he went to gain one. Then, we'll talk to two smell experts, Pamela Dalton, a psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, and David Barnes, a professor of the history of medicine and public health at the University of Pennsylvania. Our guests discuss the connection between smelling, odors, and emotions, as well as the history of odors, germs, and public health crises. SHOW CLOCK: 00:01 Introduction 01:10 South Philadelphia's Great Stink of 2014 05:31 The Man Who Couldn't Smell 15:45 Interview with Pamela Dalton and David Barnes CREDITS: Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob Kenworthy Guests: Pamela Dalton and David Barnes Reporters: Mariel Carr and Jocelyn Frank  Producer & Editor: Mariel Carr Music courtesy of the Audio Network.   Check out Distillations magazine at distillations.org, where you'll find articles, videos, and our podcast.          

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP Dr. Marcia Pelchat, physiological psychologist and Associate Member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, discusses her research on the neuroscience and behavioral psychology of eating disorders, from picky eating to food addiction. She also describes current recovery methods for patients with recent-onset anosmia, or loss of the sense of smell.

Guest Julie Mennella, Ph.D., Researcher, Monell Chemical Senses Center, will talk about the biology behind childrens taste and flavor preferencesMonell Chemical Senses Center

If you can't abide Brussels sprouts and broccoli, your genes may be to blame. Geneticist Danielle Reed of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia studies differences in our perception of taste and smell. A small blip in DNA might determine if you're bitter blind or have a sweet tooth.