Michael Tordoff | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956 Bradford, Yorkshire, UK |
| Alma mater | UCLA |
| Known for | Work on calcium intake and appetite |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biology, Genetics |
| Institutions | Monell Chemical Senses Center |
Dr. Michael G. Tordoff is a psychobiologist working at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His research deals with the genetics and physiology of taste and nutrition. His early work addressed (a) how and what animals learn about the value of their food, [1] (b) how artificial sweeteners influence appetite and body weight, [2] (c) how salt intake is regulated, and (d) how dietary calcium influences salt intake. [3] Recently, he has been investigating calcium taste and appetite. [4] [5] He is the primary proponent of the notion that calcium is a basic taste, equivalent to sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
Dr. Tordoff hosts the Monell Mouse Taste Phenotyping Project. In August 2009, he bicycled across the USA in 27 days. He is married to, and often collaborates with, Dr. Danielle Reed.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
  | This article about a biologist from the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Taurine, or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is a non-proteinogenic amino sulfonic acid that is widely distributed in animal tissues. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine, and accounts for up to 0.1% of total human body weight. Taurine is named after Latin taurus meaning bull or ox, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by German scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin. It was discovered in human bile in 1846 by Edmund Ronalds.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with an umami taste that intensifies the meaty, savory flavor of food, as naturally occurring glutamate does in foods such as stews and meat soups.
Umami, or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It has been described as savory and is characteristic of broths and cooked meats.
In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element required as an essential nutrient by organisms to perform functions necessary for life. However, the four major structural elements in the human body by weight (CHON), are usually not included in lists of major nutrient minerals. These four elements compose about 96% of the weight of the human body, and major minerals (macrominerals) and minor minerals compose the remainder.
A low-protein diet is a diet in which people decrease their intake of protein. A low-protein diet is used as a therapy for inherited metabolic disorders, such as phenylketonuria and homocystinuria, and can also be used to treat kidney or liver disease. Low protein consumption appears to reduce the risk of bone breakage, presumably through changes in calcium homeostasis. Consequently, there is no uniform definition of what constitutes low-protein, because the amount and composition of protein for an individual with phenylketonuria would differ substantially from one with homocystinuria or tyrosinemia.
A supertaster is a person whose sense of taste is of far greater intensity than the average person, having an elevated taste response.
The Monell Chemical Senses Center is a non-profit independent scientific institute located at the University City Science Center campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Monell conducts and publishes interdisciplinary basic research on taste, smell, and chemesthesis.
A taste receptor or tastant is a type of cellular receptor which facilitates the sensation of taste. When food or other substances enter the mouth, molecules interact with saliva and are bound to taste receptors in the oral cavity and other locations. Molecules which give a sensation of taste are considered "sapid".
Danielle Renee Reed is an American geneticist employed at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is most notable for her papers regarding genetic variation in taste and obesity in mice and humans.
Dr. Gary K. Beauchamp was the director and president of the Monell Chemical Senses Center from August 1990 to September 2014.
Dr. Alexander Bachmanov studied veterinary medicine at the Saint Petersburg Veterinary Institute, Russia (1977-1982), received his Ph.D. in biological sciences from the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1990. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Physiological Laboratory at Cambridge University in 1993 and at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States from 1994 to 1997. He later joined Monnell's faculty.
George Preti was an analytical organic chemist who worked at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more than four decades, his research focused on the nature, origin, and functional significance of human odors. Dr. Preti's laboratory has identified characteristic underarm odorants, and his later studies centered upon a bioassay-guided approach to the identification of human pheromones, odors diagnostic of human disease, human malodor identification and suppression and examining the “odor-print” of humans.
Dr. Morley Richard Kare (1922–1990) was a physiologist and biologist.
Devazepide is benzodiazepine drug, but with quite different actions from most benzodiazepines, lacking affinity for GABAA receptors and instead acting as an CCKA receptor antagonist. It increases appetite and accelerates gastric emptying, and has been suggested as a potential treatment for a variety of gastrointestinal problems including dyspepsia, gastroparesis and gastric reflux. It is also widely used in scientific research into the CCKA receptor.
The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral cavity, mostly on the tongue. Taste, along with the sense of smell and trigeminal nerve stimulation, determines flavors of food and other substances. Humans have taste receptors on taste buds and other areas, including the upper surface of the tongue and the epiglottis. The gustatory cortex is responsible for the perception of taste.
Specific appetite, also known as specific hunger, is a drive to eat foods with specific flavors or other characteristics.
Hunger is a sensation that motivates the consumption of food. The sensation of hunger typically manifests after only a few hours without eating and is generally considered to be unpleasant. Satiety occurs between 5 and 20 minutes after eating. There are several theories about how the feeling of hunger arises. The desire to eat food, or appetite, is another sensation experienced with regards to eating.
Weight management refers to behaviors, techniques, and physiological processes that contribute to a person's ability to attain and maintain a healthy weight. Most weight management techniques encompass long-term lifestyle strategies that promote healthy eating and daily physical activity. Moreover, weight management involves developing meaningful ways to track weight over time and to identify ideal body weights for different individuals.
Satiety value is the degree at which food gives a human the sense of food gratification, the exact contrast feeling of hunger. The concept of the Satiety Value and Satiety Index was developed by Australian researcher and doctor, Susanna Holt. Highest satiety value is expected when the food that remains in the stomach for a longer period produces greatest functional activity of the organ. Limiting the food intake after reaching the satiety value helps reduce obesity problems.
Hedonic hunger or hedonic hyperphagia is "the drive to eat to obtain pleasure in the absence of an energy deficit." Particular foods may have a high "hedonic rating" or individuals may have increased susceptibility to environmental food cues. Weight loss programs may aim to control or to compensate for hedonic hunger. Therapeutic interventions may influence hedonic eating behavior.
