Abstract
Smell, which allows us to gather information about the hedonic value of an odor, is affected by many factors. This study aimed to assess the relationship among individual factors, odor sensitivity, and enjoyment, and to evaluate how overall flavor perception and liking in actual food samples are affected by odor sensitivity. A total of 749 subjects, from four different Italian regions, participated in the study. The olfactory capabilities test on four odors (anise, banana, mint, and pine), as well as PROP (6-n-prpyl-2-thiouracil) status and food neophobia were assessed. The subjects were clustered into three groups of odor sensitivity, based on the perceived intensity of anise. The liking and intensity of the overall flavor were evaluated for four chocolate puddings with increasing sweetness (C1, C2, C3, and C4). The individual variables significantly affected the perceived intensity and liking of the odors. Even if all of the odor sensitivity groups perceived the more intensely flavored samples as the C1 and C4 chocolate puddings, the high-sensitivity group scored the global flavor of all of the samples as more intense than the low-sensitivity group. The low-sensitive subjects evaluated the liking of the sweeter samples with higher scores than the moderate-sensitive subjects, whereas the high-sensitive subjects gave intermediate scores. In conclusion, odor sensitivity plays a pivotal role in the perception and liking of real food products; this has to be taken into account in the formulation of new products, suitable for particular categories with reduced olfactory abilities.
Highlights
Smell is one of the primordial senses, useful for the survival and evolution of many animal species, including humans
The significant relationship between body mass index (BMI) and self-reported olfaction was found in the present study, with the less-than-normal-smell group more represented by normal-weight subjects than underweight, overweight, and respondents with obesity, as in agreement with Stafford and Welbeck [65]; these authors found that consumers with a high BMI were better at detecting food odors
Even if strong evidence has shown that odors are perceived differently when presented in orthonasal versus retronasal ways [131], the results from the current study demonstrated that human odor sensitivity clearly affected the perception of flavor intensity in the chocolate puddings
Summary
Smell is one of the primordial senses, useful for the survival and evolution of many animal species, including humans. According to Croy et al [3], high olfactory sensitivity may enable the perception of potential pathogenic risks and contributes to the evolutionary function of disgust as a disease avoidance mechanism [4]. Perceived odors are useful to locate the source of potential food from a far distance [6], to determine its suitability [7,8], and to affect appetite and satiety [9]. Perceived odors, in conjunction with taste and oral somatosensation, may screen for potential deviation from the concept of a safe known flavor (e.g., fresh milk), playing a significant role in the sensory evaluation of food and eating behavior [10], and shaping appetite and food choices [9,11,12,13]
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