Scientific Seminar

Exploring the Links Between Oral Microbiota, Sensory Perception and Eating Behavior in Obesity

Presentation by Carolina Munoz-Gonzalez, starting at 11:30 a.m. in the CSGA conference room.
Guest of the FFOPP team, Carolina Muñoz González is a Tenured Scientist at the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL, CSIC–UAM) in Madrid, Spain.

Her research explores how oral biology, particularly saliva and the oral microbiota, modulates the oral behaviour of flavour compounds and its consequences for perception, acceptability, and eating behaviour.

She also investigates interindividual differences in oral parameters related to age, BMI, and sex to better understand variability in flavour perception and food choices.

Please note that the seminar will be given in English.

Starting at 11 a.m., the speaker and staff will meet for tea/coffee and pastries.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, several studies conducted within the framework of the AROMABIOTA project (2019‑T1/BIO13748) showed that individuals with obesity exhibit alterations in flavour perception and hedonic responses, generally perceiving sensory stimuli with lower intensity than individuals with normal weight.

They also displayed higher levels of emotional eating, greater consumption of ultra‑processed foods rich in fats and sugars, and lower satisfaction with their eating experiences. Moreover, individuals with obesity presented differences in salivary parameters, including higher total protein concentration and antioxidant capacity, as well as a greater abundance of bacterial taxa reported in the literature to be associated with inflammatory processes and oral pathologies.

Additionally, a relationship was observed between the biochemical, and particularly the microbial, composition of saliva and both flavour perception and emotional eating.

Altogether, these findings support the potential existence of a functional oral–brain axis, whose elucidation could contribute to the development of personalised strategies for the prevention of obesity.

Microbiota, Flavor perception, eating behavior, oral-brain axis, obesity

Eric Neyraud : eric.neyraud@inrae.fr