Craving pasta? Blame your taste buds!

Do you have a hard time refraining from taking a second helping of pasta or other starchy carb? Your taste buds might be to blame.

A new study finds that humans can detect the taste of starch, in the same way that they distinguish between sweet, salty, bitter, umami, fat and sour.

What is more, a greater sensitivity to the flavor is associated with an expanding waistline (possibly due to eating more starchy carbs).

While numerous factors determine how fat builds up around our bellies, the study’s results suggest an ability to taste – and presumably enjoy – sugars in the form of starch make it that little bit harder for some to lose the spare tyre.

• Newsweek: Low-carb diet? Your taste buds are literally working against you
• Science Alert: Your weird tastebuds are to blame for your huge love of carbs, says new study
• The Journal of Nutrition: Carbohydrate taste sensitivity is associated with starch intake and waist circumference in adults

If you’re struggling with carb addiction, our best advice is to just skip it all together. Also, check out our videos about it below.