Taste and bulimia.
Binge-eating episodes in bulimia often involve sweet or fat-containing foods. Sensory perceptions and preferences for sweetness and fat content were examined in 16 normal-weight women with a diagnosis of DSM IIIR bulimia and in 16 normal-weight volunteer controls. Taste stimuli were 15 semi-liquid mixtures of dessert-type soft white cheese ("fromage blanc") containing 0, 3 or 7 grams of fat per 100 g, and sweetened with 1, 5, 10, 20, or 40% sucrose (wt./wt.). The subjects used 9-point category scales to rate the perceived sweetness and fat content of the stimuli, and assigned a pleasantness (hedonic) rating to each sample. Taste preferences were modelled using the Response Surface Method (RSM). Mean estimates of sweetness intensity and fat content were generally similar for bulimic patients and controls. In contrast, profiles of taste preference differed significantly between groups. Optimal stimulus sweetness was 15% sucrose wt./wt. for bulimic patients and only 9% for controls, while optimal fat levels were lower for bulimic patients relative to controls. The present data are consistent with previous reports that patients with eating disorders crave sweetness but show reduced sensory preferences for fat-containing foods.