The majority of participants experience changes in taste perception, desire, and enjoyment of flavours after undergoing sleeve gastrectomy (SG), Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and one anastomosis gastric bypass (OAGB), according to researchers from Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
The study authors suggests that there is some evidence that food cravings during the year following BMS are significantly affected by the type of surgery conducted, but with no apparent connection to psychological factors or eating behaviours. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to evaluate taste preferences and to compare the alterations identified before and one year after SG, RYGB and OAGB.
Between August 2021 and August 2022, 294 patients who completed the Taste Desire and Enjoyment Change Questionnaire (TDECQ) one year after their surgical intervention. The BMS methods were selected according to the patients’ criteria such as eating behaviour, upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings, the presence and severity of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and obesity-associated medical problems. For example, the patients with severe GERD were offered for RYGB and the sweet eater or snacker patients were scheduled for gastric bypass.
Outcomes
The 294 patients underwent SG (n=90), RYGB (n=104) and OAGB (n=100), 78.6% (53/71) were female and the mean age 12 months after surgery was 39.08 years. The mean BMI before and after surgery was 42.39kg/m2 and 28.30kg/m2, respectively. The mean TWL% after surgery was 33.09%. In terms of TWL%, the OAGB group exhibited a higher mean (34.03±5.99) than the SG group (32.76±5.89) and the RYGB group (32.46±5.88), although the differences were not statistically significance (p=0.141).
The researchers found:
The most decreased desire for sweet flavour was seen in RYGB (48.1%), OAGB (48%) and SG (28.9%)
The most decreased enjoyment of sweet foods was seen in OAGB (48.1%), RYGB (47.1%) and SG (32.2%).
The most decreased desire and enjoyment of fatty flavour were reported in RYGB (77.9%, 73.1%), OAGB (72%, 73%) and SG (55.6%, 58.9%) groups.
As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 there were no obvious difference between SG, OAGB and RYGB in the intensity of taste, desire and enjoyment perception.
The OAGB group exhibited a diminished perception of the taste of various food categories, including salty foods (10%), sweet foods (21%), fatty foods (31%), sour foods (13%) and savoury foods (17%), when compared to other forms of BMS. In contrast, the SG group demonstrated the most significant reduction in the perception of spicy foods, bitter foods and metallic foods and liquids, with decreases of 15.6%, 11.1% and 10%, respectively.
Conversely, the RYGB group reported a heightened perception of sweet foods, fatty foods, sour foods, and savoury foods, with values of 21.2%, 28.8%, 19.2% and 12.5%. The diminished perception of fatty foods in the OAGB group was statistically significant.
The OAGB group exhibited a higher frequency of diminished desire for sweet flavours (48.1%), fatty flavours (77.9%) and savoury foods (36.5%). Conversely, the SG group reported the most significant reduction in desire for salty taste (30%) and bitter foods (17.8%). Additionally, the OAGB group showed the greatest decrease in desire for sour and spicy foods, with changes of 36% and 29%, respectively.
There were no significant differences were observed among the three types of surgery regarding the weaker change in desire for all eight taste categories. However, the RYGB group demonstrated a notable increase in desire for salty foods, sour foods, savoury foods, bitter foods, and metallic foods and liquids, with increases of 28.8%, 26%, 14.4%, 12.5% and 12.5%, respectively. The SG group also had the highest percentage of no change in desire for sweet, fatty, and sour tastes, recorded at 38.9%, 41.1% and 58.9%, which was statistically significant.
The findings reveal that the highest frequency of reduced enjoyment for salty, spicy and metallic foods was observed in the SG groups, with rates of 32.2%, 32.2% and 13.3%. In contrast, the RYGB group exhibited a notable decrease in enjoyment for fatty, bitter and savoury foods, with frequencies of 73.1%, 38.5% and 36.5%. Additionally, the OAGB groups reported the most significant reduction in enjoyment for sweet and sour foods, at 48% and 32%.
There were no significant differences among the three types of surgery regarding the decrease in enjoyment across seven food tastes, except for sweet foods. The RYGB group reported the most substantial increase in enjoyment for salty, sour, savoury, bitter and metallic foods, with increases of 28.8%, 26%, 14.4%, 12.5%, and 12.5%, respectively. The OAGB group showed increases for fatty and spicy foods at 6% each, while the SG group experienced the highest increase in enjoyment for sweet foods at 32.2%. No significant differences were found among the three types of BMS concerning the increase in enjoyment across eight food tastes.
“Additionally, it was found that RYGB and OAGB resulted in a more marked decrease in the craving for sweet and fatty flavours when compared to SG,” the authors concluded. “Further studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods are necessary to strengthen our findings.”
The findings were reported in the paper, ‘Alterations in taste preferences one year following sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and one anastomosis gastric bypass: a cross-sectional study’, published in Scientific Reports.
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