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There is something almost feral about the taste of food. Even the sound of the five different components (sweet, salty, bitter sour and savory) can make the mouth water. Our propensity to over eat is usually blamed on lack of self control but, in reality it's our innate love of food that keeps us coming back for seconds.

However, researchers say that when we l get into the habit of overeating, our taste buds loose the sensitivity that make our addictions that much better. And like the nicotine addict that can no longer feel the languid effects of that very fist cigarettes, we eaters begin to over compensate to feel the 'rush.'

A study published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, researchers say that people, especially children, ave less sensitive taste-buds than kids of normal weight which may prompt them to eat larger quantities of food in a bid to register the same taste sensation.

In an experiment involving 99 obese children and 94 normal weight children between ages 6 and 18, researchers gave each 22 taste strips to include each of the five taste sensations, at four different levels of intensity, according to a report by British Medical Journal.

While results showed that, on average, girls and older children were better at picking out the right tastes, overall the children were best able to differentiate between sweet and salty, but found it hardest to distinguish between salty and sour, and between salty and umami (savory).

Moreover, obese participants had an even more difficult time registering the difference between taste sensations, scoring an average of 12.6 compared with an average of just over 14 by children of normal weight. Additionally, not one obese child recognized a fourth intensity level, instead believing that three and four intensities were identical.

Researchers surmise that "heightened sensitivity to different tastes may help reduce the amount of food eaten as less is required to get the same "taste hit," the study's authors note.