Energy homeostasis plays a significant role in food consumption and body weight regulation with fat intake being an area of particular interest due to its palatability and high energy density. Increasing evidence from humans and animal studies indicate the existence of a taste modality responsive to fat via its breakdown product fatty acids. These studies implicate multiple candidate receptors and ion channels for fatty acid taste detection, indicating a complex peripheral physiology that is currently not well understood. Additionally, a limited number of studies suggest a reduced ability to detect fatty acids is associated with obesity and a diet high in fat reduces an individual's ability to detect fatty acids. To support this, genetic variants within candidate fatty acid receptors are also associated with obesity reduced ability to detect fatty acids. Understanding oral peripheral fatty acid transduction mechanisms and the association with fat consumption may provide the basis of novel approaches to control development of obesity.

能量稳态在食物消耗和体重调节中起着重要作用，由于其适口性和高能量密度，脂肪摄入成为人们特别关注的领域。来自人类和动物研究的越来越多的证据表明，存在一种通过其分解产物脂肪酸来响应脂肪的味觉形态。这些研究涉及用于脂肪酸味道检测的多种候选受体和离子通道，表明目前尚不十分了解其复杂的外周生理。另外，有限的研究表明，肥胖症与脂肪酸的检测能力降低有关，高脂饮食会降低个体脂肪酸的检测能力。为此，候选脂肪酸受体内的遗传变异也与肥胖症降低了检测脂肪酸的能力有关。了解口服外周脂肪酸转导机制以及与脂肪消耗的关系可能为控制肥胖症发展的新方法提供基础。