COLUMBIA, S.C. - Kimberly R. Smith, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Neuroscience at the Floyd School of Medicine, received funding from The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for her Research Project entitled: “The Role of Salivary Proteins in Modulating Taste Perception in Humans.” 

The project examines whether diet alters salivary proteins and, as a result, influences taste sensitivity, liking, acceptance, and food intake in humans. The NIDCD conducts and supports research in the processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.

The study will compare people following ketogenic, plant-based, unrestricted, and restrictive low-calorie diets over several different points in time to track any developments or changes. Researchers will collect saliva and assess taste perception and food intake over time to determine whether specific diets are associated with distinct salivary protein profiles and taste responses, and whether dietary changes alter both salivary proteins and taste perception.

Preclinical research suggests that repeated exposure to bitter foods can increase salivary proteins that reduce bitter sensitivity and increase acceptance. This project will test whether a similar physiological mechanism occurs in humans, alongside the established role of learning through repeated food exposure.

Findings may help explain why people differ in acceptance of healthy bitter foods, such as green vegetables, and could support development of objective measures of food intake and taste-modifying treatments to improve healthy eating and adherence to bitter-tasting medications.

The Smith Lab studies biobehavioral mechanisms underlying mental and behavioral health, with emphasis on eating behaviors, obesity, eating disorders, gut-brain communication, and the neural basis of taste.