Sweet taste inhibitors: Therapeutic propects

This review summarizes and discusses the current knowledge concerning the physiological role of the sweet taste receptor (T1R2/T1R3) and the potential therapeutic perspectives concerning its inhibition. The functional expression of the sweet taste receptor has also been described in many extra-oral tissues where it has been proposed that the receptor participated in the regulation of metabolic processes. The receptor has been highlighted in various organs such as the intestine, pancreas, bladder, brain, and more recently in the bone and adipose tissue. In the intestine, T1R2/T1R3 receptor has been shown to be involved in the detection of luminal glucose, cytokine release of certain hormones of satiety, expression of carriers of glucose and maintenance of homeostasis of glucose. More recently, it has been proposed that the sweet taste receptor is involved in the adipogenesis regulation and biological function of bones. In this review, different inhibitors will be described including gymnemic acid, the sweet-taste suppressing protein, gurmarin and lactisole. Their mechanism of inhibition will be discussed. The identification of new roles of the sweet taste receptor relaunches the interest for sweet taste inhibitors or blockers and makes it as a potential and promising target for obesity and metabolic diseases cure such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia. (C) 2015 Societe francaise de nutrition. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.