Table 4.

Key clinical parameters in the studies that investigated the effect of obesity surgery on the sensory domain of taste (taste intensity).

Author (year)	N	Group (s)	% Female	Age at Baseline (y)	T2DM (%)	Time after Intervention (months)	Baseline BMI (kg/m2)	Weight Loss (% or kg)	Time Since Meal (h)	Stimuli	Stimuli and Concentration	Methodology	Key Results (Post vs. Pre Surgery)
Pepino 2014 [46]	17 10	RYGB/AGB	100% 100%	42.1 ± 8.4 46.8 ± 13.9	0 0	~20% WL ~20% WL	46.3 ± 7.7 48.5 ± 10.5	20.3 ± 3.0 kg 18.4 ± 2.0 kg	12 h	Sweet Sweet Salty Savoury	sucrose 0.00, 0.09, 0.36, 1.05 M glucose 0.00, 0.32, 0.56, 1.00 M NaCl 0.00, 0.056, 0.18, 0.56 M MSG 0.00, 0.02, 0.06, 0.18 M	gLMS solution random order	↓ SW (s) a ↔ SW (g), SA, SAV b
Nance 2017 [58]	23 8	RYGB VSG	87.0% 87.5%	43.0 ± 9.6 36.6 ± 9.9	0 0	~20% WL ~20% WL	46.9 ± 7.5 53.3 ± 8.7	19.8 ± 3.7% 19.3 ± 1.8%	12 h	Sweet Sweet Salt Savoury	sucrose: 0, 90, 360, 1050 M glucose: 0, 320, 560, 1000 M NaCl: 0, 56, 180, 560 M MSG: 0, 20, 60, 180 M	gLMS solution ascending concentrations	↔ SW, SA, SAV
Ribeiro 2021 [53]	86 50	RYGB/VSG OC	87.5% 78%	43.5 ± 10.3 43.0 ± 9.3	16.7% 26%	12 ± 2.3 7.3 ± 4.3	42.9 ± 5.3 42.7 ± 5.0	31.9 ± 8.2% 1 ± 5.7%	1 h	Sweet Sour Salty Bitter	sucrose (0.4, 0.2, 0.1, 0.05 g/mL) citric acid (0.3, 0.165, 0.09, 0.05 g/mL) NaCl (0.25, 0.1, 0.04, 0.016 g/mL) quinine HCL (0.006, 0.0024, 0.0009, 0.0004 g/mL)	gLMS taste strip ascending concentrations	↔ SW, SO, SA, BI

Abbreviations: AGB: adjusted gastric band, BI: bitter, BMI: body mass index, gLMS: generalised labelled magnitude scale, g: glucose, HCl: hydrochloric acid, NaCl: sodium chloride, RYGB: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, s: sucrose, SA: salty, SAV: savoury, SO: sour, SW: sweet, T2DM: type 2 diabetes mellitus, VSG: vertical sleeve gastrectomy, WL: weight loss, y: years. Data given as mean ± SD. Footnotes: ^a Combined both groups. ^b Comparison between RYGB vs. AGB.