I was intrigued to read in this weekend’s Sunday Telegraph that scientists have now discovered a sixth different taste receptor on the tongue. And, where people have fewer of these fat receptors than the norm, they may be inclined to put on weight as they don’t realise how much fat they’re consuming.

For years it was believed there were only four different tastes: sweet, sour, salt and bitter. A fifth taste, ‘umami’ (meaning literally ‘savouriness’) was recognised in 1985, but now it appears there is a sixth taste. Researchers at Washington University discovered that people with more of a receptor called CD36 were more able to detect the existence of fat in their food.

What I found of particular interest is that people who consume a diet high in fat find themselves on a path to obesity because fat consumption causes them to manufacture fewer fat receptors on their tongue, which in turn makes them less able to detect fat in their food.

At long last I may have found a reason – at a molecular level – why Nutrichef customers comment that their taste buds seem to “reawaken” within a few days of starting one of Nutrichef’s popular weight loss meal plans.