Mysterious Gut Taste Buds Might Inform Your Diet

Specialized cells in our gut can tell the brain whether you’re eating sugar or artificial sweeteners. The emerging research could help us understand the dynamic gut-brain connection.

By Jeanne Erdmann
Apr 11, 2022 3:00 PMApr 11, 2022 4:44 PM
Sugar diet
(Credit: Oksana.Bondar/Shutterstock)

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

At his first Thanksgiving dinner in the U.S., Diego Bohórquez was seated next to a woman who had undergone gastric bypass. Her personal story changed the course of his career. Within six months of surgery, she’d lost 40 percent of her bodyweight, and her diabetes eased enough to make insulin shots unnecessary. She also told Bohórquez that the sight of runny egg yolks made her nauseous, but after the procedure, she craved egg yolks and ate them regularly.

Bohórquez had come to the U.S. from the Amazon region of Ecuador to study nutrition, and she asked him how this could have happened. Bohórquez was so captivated by her experience that he decided to combine neuroscience and nutrition, and study how the gut could drive food choices. That pursuit is now connecting unexpected dots in our vast and surprisingly communal body-mind network.

0 free articles left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

0 free articlesSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Stay Curious

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and unlock one more article for free.

 

View our Privacy Policy


Want more?
Keep reading for as low as $1.99!


Log In or Register

Already a subscriber?
Find my Subscription

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Shop Now
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.