America has become a country of excess, especially in regards to food. So, when I decided to narrow down my research interests to a branch of human psychology, obesity was the logical choice. In the last fifty years, the percentage of obese Americans has nearly tripled. And, now in 2008, more than half of all Americans are classified as being overweight (1) In this study, three possible causes of obesity were investigated. The first was the link between obesity and fat discriminability, the ability to discriminate differences in fat content. The second potential cause was sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil, a compound that varies in sensitivity based on variations at the Tas2R38 gene. And the third potential cause was the possibility of “tasting” fat, as controlled by the CD36, a candidate fat taste receptor that is found on the tongue.

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• Social Science