Decoding fat-driven appetite: implications for flavor science and health-oriented food design

Fat perception engages overlapping neurobiological pathways—spanning taste, texture, and gut–brain signaling—that encode reward, incentive salience, and energy-balance feedback. In obesity, these circuits become dysregulated, amplifying maladaptive eating. Deciphering these mechanisms is foundational to food science: it directly informs flavor engineering, product reformulation, and microbiome-targeted interventions that can strategically reshape dietary fat preference and curb overconsumption without sacrificing enjoyment.

This work is supported by the Scientific Project of Beijing Life Science Academy (BLSA, Nos. 2024300CC0160, 2025300CC0110, 2025300CB0020, 2024301QPIA01, and 2024302RPIB03), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant ID 32500864 and 32272455). These authors contributed equally: Kun Cui, Wenhao Pei. Flavor Science Laboratory, Beijing Life Science Academy (BLSA), Beijing, China Kun Cui, Wenhao Pei, Fuqiang Liu, Hanyu Wang, You Wan, Jian Mao & Jianping Xie Department of Nutrition and Health, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, China Correspondence to Jian Mao or Jianping Xie.

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To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Cui, K., Pei, W., Liu, F. et al. Decoding fat-driven appetite: implications for flavor science and health-oriented food design. npj Sci Food (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-026-01163-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-026-01163-1