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“Fat” isn’t a flavor. Its a carrier of flavors.

So goes the conventional wisdom. However, there is a cephalic phase to fat ingestion in which simply tasting fat without ingesting it will trigger lipoprotein lipase to release fatty acids from adipose tissue. The experiment consisted of subjects chewing full fat or fat free cream cheese on crackers and spitting it out before swallowing and without knowing which version they received. The were all tested for changes in LPL levels and serum free fatty acids. Those will the full fat had an increase in LPL and serum free fatty acids. The tongue was able to detect otherwise insensible levels of fat and trigger a physiological response.