Abstract
The present study investigated how the sensory taste profile of a meal altered the subjective desire, wanting and liking of foods with a sweet, salty, sour, bitter, fatty, and spicy sensory profile, respectively. Participants (n = 85) ate a meal with a pronounced sensory taste profile: (1) sweet, (2) salty, or (3) sweet and salty combined. Self-reports of appetite, pleasantness, and sensory specific desires (SSD) were evaluated over the course of the meal using VAS-scales. SSDs were further studied through alterations in liking and desire for food samples with the main sensory profile being sweet (peach), salty (pretzel), sour (green apple), bitter (dark chocolate), fatty (whipped cream), and spicy (chilli nut), respectively. Consumption of food with a pronounced sensory taste profile was found to suppress the desire for food with a similar sensory taste profile, while the desire for different sensory profiles were enhanced or not affected. Further, when exposed to two pronounced tastes within the same meal, suppression of sensory desires was not only specific for the exposure tastes but tended to go beyond the sensory exposure. The findings suggest that taste variation within a meal holds the potential to create more satisfying meals, which can hinder additional desires after a meal and thus, lower additional calorie intake.
Highlights
Human eating behaviour is a broad term used to describe the overall processes of eating and drinking
Exposure to food odours, such as the smell of pizza or warm cookies, can stimulate salivation [7,8], induce appetite and increase food intake [9,10]. This suggests that odours can direct appetite and food choices towards foods that are signalled by the odour [11], a concept known as sensory specific appetite [10]
The majority of the participants (77%) perceived crackers as primarily salty, and a few perceived the crackers as primarily sweet (8%), spicy (8%) or fatty (8%). These results indicate that the chosen foods were perceived as expected for the majority of the participants
Summary
Human eating behaviour is a broad term used to describe the overall processes of eating and drinking. Sensations that demotivate eating develop during a meal; feelings of ‘wanting’ for a certain sensory exposure can develop during a meal These sensations are known as sensory specific desires (SSDs), and can be described as the intrinsic motivation for consuming foods with a specific sensory profile [16,17], e.g., sweet, salty, sour, bitter, fatty or spicy. The effect of developed SSD on liking and wanting of foods with similar and different sensory profiles, respectively, has been demonstrated in studies on spicy soup [16] and sweet yoghurt [17], and more implicit in studies on sweet and savoury food [20] and in sweet drinks [21] Overall, these studies showed a decrease in pleasantness and wanting of foods that share a similar taste sensory profile with an eaten food, and either an enhanced or unaffected desire for foods with a different sensory taste profile. One cup of water was provided for palate cleansing before proceeding to the step
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