The heart has “sweet” receptors similar to the tongue, with researchers hopeful the discovery will pave the way for new ways to treat heart failure.
A team at Loyola University Chicago found that stimulating the receptors with sweet substances could modulate the heartbeat.
Graduate student Michah Yoder said while taste receptors were traditionally associated with the tongue and a person’s ability to perceive flavours, recent studies had shown that these receptors existed in other parts of the body, where they likely played different roles.
Mr Yoder said this new study was the first to identify specific “sweet taste” receptors, known as TAS1R2 and TAS1R3, on the surface of heart muscle cells.
He said the new research found that these receptors were not just present on heart muscle, but also functional.
“After you eat a meal, it’s been shown that your heart rate and blood pressure actually are increasing.
“Previously, this was thought to be a neural axis that’s being signaled. But we’re proposing a more direct consequence, where we have a spike in our blood sugar after eating a meal, and that’s binding to these sweet taste receptors on the heart muscle cells, causing a difference in the heartbeat.”
Mr Yoder said the researchers also found that these receptors were more abundant in the hearts of patients with heart failure, suggesting a possible link to disease.
