Just like the sweet tooth, people can also have a 'fat' tooth – an affinity toward unhealthy, fatty foods, new research says, indicating that the new finding could help develop effective obesity treatment for specific cases.

As reported by the Telegraph, researchers from the school of medicine at Washington University in St Louis have discovered a chemical receptor on the tongue. Billed as CD36, the receptor is found to be sensitive to fatty foods, notes the broadsheet.

The discovery is important because it can help justify why some people are addicted to foods that contain plenty of fat and are often unhealthy, BBC says, adding that the experts hope to find a way to increase people’s sensitivity to fat so they don’t consume more than what is required to maintain a healthy well-being.

People with an increased amount of CD36 can perceive fat in food better than others and may have to rely less on their sense of smell alone, the study authors say. They also add that some people can be genetically predisposed to the said protein molecule, BBC notes.

Lead study author Prof Nada Abumrad tells BBC in an interview that the main objective of the research is to figure out how people’s ability to detect dietary fat can affect the choices they make in terms of what to eat and what not to eat. Quality of dietary fat also matters, Prof Abumrad reiterates.

It is only the beginning and more research is needed to fully understand how different individuals sense fat and whether or not their ability impacts how much or little fat they consume through diet.

An interesting outcome of the study, as mentioned by co-author Dr Yanina Pepino, is that science can hope to develop a new type of obesity treatment depending on the amount of CD36 protein a person produces. The higher the production rate, the less s/he is likely to gorge on fatty foods, she says.