Perhaps one of the keys to good health isn't just what you eat but how you taste it. Taste buds may in fact have a powerful role in a long and healthy life - at least for fruit flies, say two new studies that appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Switzerland found that suppressing the animal's ability to taste its food - regardless of how much it actually eats - can significantly increase or decrease its length of life and potentially promote healthy aging. Bitter tastes could have negative effects on lifespan, sweet tastes had positive effects, and the ability to taste water had the most significant impact - flies that could not taste water lived up to 43 percent longer than other flies. The findings suggest that in fruit flies, the loss of taste may cause physiological changes to help the body adapt to the perception that it's not getting adequate nutrients. "Our world is shaped by our sensory abilities that help us navigate our surroundings and by dissecting how this affects aging, we can lay the groundwork for new ideas to improve our health," says senior author of the other study, Joy Alcedo, Ph.D, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Wayne State University, formerly of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Switzerland.

http://phys.org/news/2014-05-affect-length-life.html#jCp
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1113150097/longevity-influence-by-sense-of-taste-052014/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140519160525.htm
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/7139/20140520/bitter-sweet-symphony-sense-taste-affects-lifespan.htm