How Obesity Dulls the Sense of Taste (IMAGE) PLOS Caption The researchers found that obese mice had about 25 percent fewer taste buds than lean mice. Credit Alexas Fotos, Pixabay Usage Restrictions CC0 License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.