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Associations between food neophobia and responsiveness to “warning” chemosensory sensations in food products in a large population sample
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to explore the association between food neophobia and chemosensory responsiveness and to determine whether this association translates into different food liking and preference patterns. Data were collected on 1225 respondents (61% females, age 20-60 years) as part of the Italian Taste project. Respondents completed the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) as well as a food preference and familiarity questionnaire for a number of foods and beverages categorized as mild or strong tasting. Moreover, they evaluated attribute intensity and liking of an actual food (dark chocolate pudding) varying in the level of sweetness, bitterness and astringency. Taste function was evaluated by measuring fungiform papillae density (FPD), responsiveness to PROP (6-n- propylthiouracil) and to water solutions representing various oro-sensory qualities.
High, medium and low neophobic subjects did not differ for FPD and chemosensory responsiveness. Reported liking was significantly lower for high neophobics than low neophobics only for those vegetables and beverages characterized by high levels of warning stimuli (i.e. bitterness, sourness, astringency and alcohol), whereas almost no differences were found for the bland versions of food items. High and medium neophobics rated astringency and, to a lesser extent, bitterness of the dark chocolate pudding, as more intense than low neophobics and liked the most bitter and astringent variants significantly less than low neophobics.
Differences in liking, however, do not seem to be mediated by food neophobics’ superior taste functioning but rather by higher levels of arousal when eating food and/or drinking beverages that are perceived as potentially unpleasant and dangerous. Finally, the effect of food neophobia was evident not only for potentially unusual items in the Italian food context, but even for items that might be considered highly familiar.
... Food neophobia was negatively associated with liking many food items, particularly strong tasting (39,49) and unfamiliar/novel foods (47,48,73,74) in children and adolescents (33, 37-39, 42, 50, 75-82) and in adults (5, 18, 40, 47-49, 57, 69, 73, 79, 83-85) . In large-scale research (n=8906) including eight different studies conducted in five countries, food neophobia was inversely associated with the liking of the majority of the 219 considered food and beverage items (73) . ...
... Among food groups, studies consistently indicate that food neophobia is negatively related to the liking of fruits and/or vegetables in children and adolescents (39,42,60,71,75,77,78,89) and also in adults (5,49,56,57,79,83,84,90,91) . Laureati et al. (80) found that food neophobia was inversely correlated with the liking of both vegetables and some fruits among Italian children and reported that children's liking scores for vegetables significantly decreased with increasing levels of food neophobia, but the liking scores for fruits were stable according to the children's levels of food neophobia. ...
... One of the possible explanations for this stronger association between food neophobia and liking vegetables compared to liking fruits is that vegetables are not as sweet as fruits and some vegetables have a bitter taste. It has been determined that neophobic individuals avoid intense aromas and pungent, astringent, or bitter tastes (49,56,58,69,73) . While humans innately prefer sweet tastes, an appreciation of bitter and sour tastes can only be https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114522003713 ...
Food neophobia is defined as the unwillingness to taste new foods and the avoidance of unfamiliar foods. This eating behaviour is a complex issue, and both genetic and environmental factors play a role in it. The aim of this review is to understand its relationships with dietary behaviours throughout the life span and to examine the impact of interventions on food neophobia. A literature search was performed using the PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect databases. As a result of the screening, a total of 139 studies, 17 of which were intervention studies, were included in this review. According to current evidence, food neophobia is negatively associated with the acceptance of not only novel/unfamiliar foods but also familiar foods. Many studies have shown that food neophobia is negatively associated with the hedonics and consumption of core foods, especially vegetables and fruits. Individuals with higher levels of food neophobia are less familiar with many foods, but familiarity is a prominent motivator in food choices for these individuals. Therefore, it may be considered a barrier limiting diet quality and this trend is similar for both children and adults. However, food neophobia is not an unchangeable personality trait. Intervention studies have pointed out that educational programs and food-related activities that increase familiarity and exposure to foods and create positive attitudes toward and positive experiences with foods can reduce food neophobia. The results highlight that people with high food neophobia need more support to improve their diets and the quality of dietary behaviour.
... Such a suggestion does not necessarily imply increased perceptual sensitivity, but rather a general heightened responsiveness to stimuli. Thus, although Laureati et al. (2018) showed that variations in FN may not be linked to increased chemosensory perceptual sensitivity (in terms of supra-threshold intensities), the hedonic responses of the participants that were high in FN to vegetables and drinks that were strongly flavored were significantly decreased relative to those lower in FN. Moreover, those high in FN also show increased reluctance to seek new sensations, as measured by the sensation-seeking scale (Alley & Potter, 2011;Pliner & Hobden, 1992;Pliner & Melo, 1997;Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, & Zoob, 1964), and it has been shown that similar personality variables related to openness to new stimuli and experiences (Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Experience Seeking), as well as General Neophobia, predict the likelihood of an adult trying a novel fruit (Dovey et al., 2012). ...
... Considerable recent research has examined responses to foods as a function of adult FN (Capiola & Raudenbush, 2012;Jaeger, Rasmussen, & Prescott, 2017;Jaeger, Roigard, Hunter, & Worch, 2021;Knaapila et al., 2014;Laureati et al., 2018;Siegrist, Hartmann, & Keller, 2013;Soucier, Doma, Farrell, Leith-Bailey, & Duncan, 2019), but has not considered if there are specific sensory qualities of foods that are more important in food rejections. We suggest that the concept of sensory sensitivity/responsiveness may help explain the origin of increased arousal in high FN adults as it appears to do in children, but that it may be more relevant to food-related sensory qualities. ...
... Bitterness is strongly related to food rejections, independent of FN, but it is quite possible that a strong link to increasing FN might have been evident. Bitterness, along with astringency and sourness, has been shown to be characteristic of those vegetables (e.g., rocket, radish, chicory), beverages (e.g., coffee, grapefruit juice, beer), and even desserts (e.g., dark chocolate) that are liked less by those high in FN (Laureati et al., 2018). ...
Food neophobia (FN), typically defined in terms of rejection of unfamiliar foods but also associated with higher negative arousal in relation to food, has been established as an important personality variable in explaining food preferences and choices. Past research has examined responses to foods as a function of FN but not considered if there are specific sensory qualities of foods that are more important in food rejections. We propose that the concept of sensory sensitivity may help explain the origin of increased arousal in high FN adults, and conducted an online survey in Singapore with 1896 participants as a first step towards investigating this hypothesis. FN was measured using the FN scale (Pliner & Hobden, 1992), and additionally participants: (a) rated their agreement with a series of statements that reflected their attitudes towards food sensory qualities, and (b) completed The Foodie Index (Pickering & Pickering, 2022) to obtain measures of food involvement and enjoyment. The results reinforced earlier findings that FN is related to an overall lower level of enjoyment of foods, and further revealed that: (a) evaluation of food sensory qualities prior to, or during, eating or sensory reasons for rejecting a food were positively related to FN, and (b) increasing disengagement with foods in terms of knowledge, interest, time and money spent on food as FN increases. Collectively, the results underscore the centrality of FN in understanding consumers' food‐related experiences and behaviors by showing that FN is related to both sensitivity about specific sensory properties and low engagement with foods generally.
Practical Applications
Food and sensory profiling by consumers has been increasing in recent years. The present data will assist in interpretation of consumer studies in which FN and/or food interest/engagement has been measured, since both are found to be a strong source of variation in consumer data. In particular, both product engagement and level of FN have been shown elsewhere to impact how consumers allocate their attention to sensory tasks. This suggests that sources of variation in consumer responses, whether due to general or sensory‐specific responses to foods, are crucial in interpreting sensory profiling or preference data.
... Food neophobia (FN) is a personality trait that has both genetic and environmental determinants and that is characterized by the avoidance of unfamiliar or novel foods (Cooke, 2018;Knaapila et al., 2011;Knaapila et al., 2007;Pliner & Hobden, 1992). Numerous studies have examined the influence of this trait on food preferences and behaviours, both for unfamiliar, ethnic and novel foods, as well as for more familiar foods (Asperin, Phillips, & Wolfe, 2011;Barrena & Sánchez, 2013;Chung et al., 2012;Falciglia, Couch, Gribble, Pabst, & Frank, 2000;Fenko, Backhaus, & van Hoof, 2015;Helland, Bere, Bjørnarå, & Øverby, 2017;Jaeger, Cardello, et al., 2017;Jaeger et al., 2018;King, Meiselman, & Henriques, 2008;Knaapila et al., 2017;Laureati et al., 2018;Losada-Lopez, Dopico, & Faína-Medín, 2021;Olabi et al., 2015;Proserpio et al., 2020;Roßbach, Foterek, Schmidt, Hilbig, & Alexy, 2016;Sandvik et al., 2021;Siegrist & Hartmann, 2020;Tan, van den Berg, & Stieger, 2016;Torri, Tuccillo, Bonelli, Piraino, & Leone, 2020;Tuorila, Andersson, Martikainen, & Salovaara, 1998;Tuorila & Hartmann, 2020;Tuorila et al., 2008;Tuorila, Lähteenmäki, Pohjalainen, & Lotti, 2001). The general finding from these studies is that the hedonic response (liking) to foods is lower among neophobic individuals, but the effect is dependent on product type and familiarity. ...
... Although FN is characterized primarily by a dislike of unfamiliar food, it also manifests itself in a lower liking for and a reluctance to consume many familiar foods (De Toffoli et al., 2019;Howard, Mallan, Byrne, Magarey, & Daniels, 2012;Hursti & Sjödén, 1997;Jaeger, Cardello, et al., 2017;Knaapila et al., 2011;Laureati et al., 2018;Siegrist, Hartmann, & Keller, 2013;Törnwall et al., 2014;Tuorila et al., 2001), especially those of animal origin (Cooke, Wardle, & Gibson, 2003;Pliner & Pelchat, 1991). In addition, many of the above studies have found lowered acceptance among neophobic individuals for a wide variety of foods and food categories, including meat, seafood, and a variety of familiar but intensely flavoured foods. ...
... It is important to note, too, that this relationship was observed across a wide range of tasted foods and food names that were used in the various studies, leading to the conclusion that the negative emotional response to foods by neophobics does not only apply to unfamiliar or novel foods, but can be found across a wide range of everyday foods. Indeed, food neophobia has always been associated with a relative dislike for unfamiliar vs. familiar foods (Pliner, 1994), and numerous studies have shown that neophobics also demonstrate a lowered liking / preference / consumption of familiar foods (Jaeger, Rasmussen, & Prescott, 2017;Laureati et al., 2015;Laureati et al., 2018;Olabi et al., 2015;Russell & Worsley, 2008;Tuorila et al., 2001). This is not to say that neophobic individuals would respond with negative emotional valence to all foods, but rather, that the relationship between FN and negative emotional valence is sufficiently robust to withstand associations calculated across a broad range of foods. ...
In this study the valence × arousal circumplex-inspired emotion questionnaire (CEQ) was used to assess the valence and arousal components of emotions evoked in response to both tasted and written food and beverages. A total of 6 studies were conducted in the U.S and New Zealand with a total of 3657 consumers and 69 stimuli (both tasted and written) in both central location tests (CLT) and on-line studies. Individuals participating in the studies completed questionnaires to assess the personality traits of food neophobia (FN) and private body consciousness (PBC). Results of these studies showed FN to be associated with negative emotional valence and higher emotional arousal. Confirming previous studies, FN was found to be negatively associated with food liking ratings. PBC was found to be associated with higher emotional arousal. Considering the strong associations between FN, PBC and the two independent dimensions of core affect, i.e., valence and arousal, the present research confirms the need in future research to employ measures of food emotions that are sensitive to differences in these well established and critical dimensions. As shown in this research, the CEQ is both an efficient and comprehensive method to acquire such data, as well as one that is sensitive to individual differences among respondents in such personality traits as food neophobia and private body consciousness.
... In addition to perceptual factors, there are also psychological factors that influence preferences and choices of healthy food, such as food neophobia, which is the reluctance to eat novel or unknown foods [34]. In particular, food neophobia has a negative impact on certain categories of foods, including fruits and vegetables [35,36], characterised by a high intensity of warning sensations, such as bitterness, sourness, astringency [37], and high-fibre products [38]. ...
... Food neophobia was measured using the food neophobia scale (FNS) [34], validated in Italian as described by Laureati et al. [37]. The questionnaire consists of 10 items, 5 related to neophilic and 5 related to neophobic attitudes. ...
... Since polyphenols are known to impart a bitter taste [50] and influence colour [51], it can be speculated that they may have influenced the colour and natural sweetness of the corn. In fact, bitter taste is considered a "warning sensation" that negatively influences food liking [29,37]. The fibre content of tartary buckwheat, besides contributing to the bitter taste, is also a possible cause of the darker colour [52], which can have a negative effect on liking. ...
Tartary buckwheat is a pseudocereal receiving increasing attention as a minor crop interesting for agrobiodiversity conservation and sustainability. It is rich in bioactive substances which, however, may lead to sensory properties undesirable to the consumer, such as bitterness and astringency. The aim was to evaluate consumers' perception and overall liking of food products enriched with tartary or common buckwheat. A total of 120 consumers (56% women) aged 20-60 years (mean age ± SD: 38.8 ± 13.0 years) evaluated six samples of a corn-based gluten-free formulation enriched by increasing concentrations (20%, 30%, 40%) of either common (CB) or tartary buckwheat (TB) flour for overall liking and appropriateness of sensory properties. Results showed significant differences (p < 0.0001) in liking among samples. Considering all subjects, liking decreased with the increase of tartary buckwheat additions, although TB20 and TB30 samples were well accepted and comparable to all CB samples. TB40 was the least liked product. Two clusters of consumers showing opposite behaviours according to liking were found. One cluster (30%) showed an increased liking with the increasing amount of tartary buckwheat. These results show that by keeping the concentration of tartary buckwheat up to 30%, it is possible to develop new products accepted by consumers.
... Many studies have demonstrated that fruit and vegetables are less preferred and less consumed food group by fussy children (Cooke et al., 2003;Laureati et al., 2015;Poelman, Delahunty, & de Graaf, 2017;Russell & Worsley, 2008). The rejection appears to be mainly caused by bitter and sour taste associated with fruit and vegetables (Laureati et al., 2018). In an evolutionary perspective, avoidance of "warning sensations" identified in foods such as bitterness, sourness, pungency and astringency is part of natural adaptation process to prevent from the harmful and toxic intake but in modern society, it is rather considered as maladaptive behavior to deny healthy diet (Cooke et al., 2003;Laureati et al., 2018). ...
... The rejection appears to be mainly caused by bitter and sour taste associated with fruit and vegetables (Laureati et al., 2018). In an evolutionary perspective, avoidance of "warning sensations" identified in foods such as bitterness, sourness, pungency and astringency is part of natural adaptation process to prevent from the harmful and toxic intake but in modern society, it is rather considered as maladaptive behavior to deny healthy diet (Cooke et al., 2003;Laureati et al., 2018). A recent study in Italian adult population suggested that food avoidance may be underpinned by the psychological anxiousness stemmed from the perception of "warning sensations" irrespective of individual chemosensory responses (e.g. ...
... A recent study in Italian adult population suggested that food avoidance may be underpinned by the psychological anxiousness stemmed from the perception of "warning sensations" irrespective of individual chemosensory responses (e.g. PROP sensitivity) (Laureati et al., 2018). For children's food fussiness, then, it is possible that food neophobic behaviors are mediated by anxiety and temperament (Pliner, Eng, & Krishnan, 1995;Pliner & Hobden, 1992;Pliner, Pelchat, & Grabski, 1993). ...
Children’s biological characteristics are a crucial element in understanding the mechanisms and pathways of their eating behaviors and development. However, the role of biological characteristics in food fussiness has not been systematically examined. The aim of this review was to search, collate and summarize the evidence on associations between food fussiness and biological characteristics in children’s fussy eating behaviors. A systematic review was performed with two main search concepts, food fussiness and biological characteristics in children, with 46 articles included. Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used for quality assessment with the included articles ranging from medium-high to high quality. Food fussiness was associated with diverse biological characteristics including age, sex, temperament, heritability, birth weight, sensory sensitivity, eating rate, leptin level and chemosensory receptor genes. While the strength and direction of associations varied across studies, the most consistent evidence was for negative associations between fussiness and birth weight, eating rate, leptin level and inhibitory control and positive associations with sensory acuity, emotionality, negative affect and shyness. This review has highlighted that many biological characteristics are related to food fussiness, yet there is inadequate attention directed to understanding mechanisms and pathways linking the biological characteristics with food fussiness as well as advancing conceptualization and measurement of fussiness.
... Although FN is defined, and prima facie measured, as a response to food novelty, there is evidence that high scores on the FNS also reflect rejection of, or lower preference for, foods that vary along dimensions other than familiarity. Thus, although food novelty is an issue for both children and adults high in FN [11], those with higher FN also give lower liking ratings to, and are less likely to consume or even try, many familiar foods [2,6,9,[12][13][14][15][16][17]. They also show a reluctance to re-try foods that they have already tasted [15]. ...
... In addition to stimulus novelty, high arousal is also a function of complexity and intensity in sensory stimuli [23,28,29]. Thus, high FN is associated with reduced liking for, and choice of, foods that are intensely flavoured, e.g., those foods that are bitter, astringent or high in pungency [12,13]. This has been interpreted as due to higher arousal in response to inherent warning signals that foods may be dangerous to consume. ...
... The F&B items in the group where the negative regression coefficients between liking and FN were "very high"-and to a lesser extent the F&B items in the "high" groupimplicated all of the expected arousal-inducing categories of F&B characteristics: flavour intensity whether produced by chilli, other spices or flavours, foods from other cultures (even if familiar), and the novelty of a dish or its ingredients. This is consistent with some general categories of arousal elicitation-particularly, intensity and novelty-that have been previously described [12,13,23,28,29]. Many items within these overlapping categories of F&B characteristics may also elicit arousal due to their perceived complexity, although we have no way of estimating this from the present data. ...
The negative impact of food neophobia (FN) on food and beverage (F&B) liking extends beyond foods and beverages that are novel. In addition, F&Bs that are high in flavour intensity, perceived as dangerous, or have connections to other cultures are likely to elicit rejection by those high in FN. Each of these factors have been established as producing increased arousal, potentially to an unpleasant degree. The aim of this study was to explore the hypothesis that increased arousal underlies all causes of rejection due to FN. To do this, we analysed and interpreted existing data based on online surveys that measured FN and liking for a broad range of F&B names from 8906 adult consumers in the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Denmark. Negative associations between FN and liking of varying strengths were evident for 90% of the F&Bs. Consistent with the arousal hypothesis, F&Bs (a) with high flavour intensity, whether produced by chilli, other spices, or flavours, (b) from other cultures, (c) often perceived as dangerous, or (d) that were novel or had novel ingredients showed the strongest negative relationships between FN and liking. Conversely, F&Bs whose liking scores were only very weakly related to FN had low arousal characteristics: high familiarity, sweetness, mild flavours, strong connections to national food cultures, or some combination of these factors. Since this study was exploratory and conducted on existing data, there was no direct measure of arousal, but this is recommended for future, stronger tests of this arousal hypothesis.
... This is a heritable personality trait, preserved during generations, that brings individuals to be extremely selective towards foods (Knaapila et al., 2007), particularly vegetables and fruits but also towards other common foods (Dovey, Staples, Gibson, & Halford, 2008;Jaeger et al., 2017). More recently, Laureati et al. (2018) showed neophobia-related differences in liking for foods, including vegetables, characterized by warning sensations such as bitterness and astringency, in a large sample. The lower liking of vegetables with a strong taste in individuals higher in neophobia could be in part due to their increased perception of strong and disliked oro-sensory characteristics, which often characterize vegetables . ...
... All items were strongly positively related to PC1, which accounted for the 47.79% of variability. These results are in line with the evidence reported from Laureati et al. (2018) with a larger sample of Italian adults (n = 1225), and a Cronbach α of 0.87. The overall mean reached in this study was lower (M = 24.27; ...
... Our results showed that individuals higher in neophobia like less all the vegetables when compared to individuals lower in neophobia. Similarly, previous studies highlighted that food neophobia was negatively associated with the choice of vegetables (De Toffoli et al., 2019), confirming other evidences that food neophobia in adults is associated with a reduced dietary variety, leading to lower acceptability and intake of this food category (Jaeger, Rasmussen, & Prescott, 2017;Laureati et al., 2018;Spinelli et al., 2018). Therefore, we would have expected to find higher interferences scores for neophobics while this was not the case. ...
Understanding why many individuals dislike vegetables is relevant to develop effective strategies to change food behaviors promoting healthier choices. The influences of sensory properties in the development of food preferences are well known. Attention as well may play a role in this process. Indeed, attention enhances information processing of emotionally salient objects or events by selecting them from the environmental context in which they are embedded.
This study was aimed at investigating the relationship between acceptability of vegetables, food neophobia and taste responsiveness (measured as responsiveness to 6-n- propylthiouracil-PROP) and the attentive responses to vegetables that differ in sensory properties. 120 adults (20-24 years old, 74.2% women) were recruited and characterized for Food Neophobia and PROP responsiveness. To assess the interferences between emotional and attentional processes a food version of the Emotional Stroop Task was used. Attentional bias was measured through reaction times (RTs) to word stimuli, which included 16 vegetables characterized by generally appealing (e.g. ‘sweetness’, ‘mildness’) or unappealing (e.g. ‘bitterness’, ‘astringency’) sensory properties, and 16 emotionally neutral objects presented as control.
A clear association between vegetable liking scores and sensory properties was found in this study, confirming the categorization of appealing and unappealing vegetables.
Furthermore, results showed significantly higher RTs for vegetables than for neutral objects, demonstrating that vegetables were more emotionally salient than objects. Furthermore, the interference scores, computed as the differences between average RTs to unappealing/appealing vegetable words and average RTs to neutral words, for vegetables with unappealing sensory properties were higher than those for vegetables characterized by appealing sensory properties, indicating a greater attentional bias for unappealing vegetables. A strong inverse correlation between liking scores and RTs (r=-0.83) was found.
No effect of food neophobia and PROP status was found on interferences scores, while PROP supertasters showed higher RTs for vegetables in general.
The study showed that attention is particularly grabbed by vegetables with unappealing sensory properties, thus indicating that attention play a role in vegetable acceptability.
... Another important psychological construct to be considered when exploring the acceptance of new food formulations is the trait of food neophobia, namely the reluctance to try or eat unfamiliar foods (Pliner & Hobden, 1992). High levels of food neophobia have been associated with reduced preference and intake for many food products belonging to different categories, including fruits and vegetables characterized by high intensities of warning sensations (e.g., bitterness, astringency, sourness, and pungency; Knaapila et al., 2011;Laureati et al., 2018;Törnwall et al., 2014). ...
... The questionnaire developed by Pliner and Hobden (1992) and validated in Italian by Laureati et al. (2018) was applied to investigate the reluctance to try and eat unfamiliar foods. Each of the 10 statement was evaluated using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "I strongly disagree" (score 1) to "I strongly agree" (score 7). ...
... In particular, subjects preferring samples with higher phenol amounts (HIGH_AIL) perceived generally the overall flavor of the samples as less intense compared to the other group of subjects (LOW_AIL). These results confirm previous findings showing that the limited ability to perceive intensity of "warning" sensations (e.g., sourness) could translate in higher acceptance of food products characterized by specific sensory qualities (Cox et al., 2012;Laureati et al., 2018;Spinelli et al., 2018 (Proserpio, Pagliarini, Laureati, Frigerio, & Lavelli, 2019). Food neophobia is also widely reported to be negatively associated with dietary pattern rich in vegetables (Knaapila et al., 2011;Törnwall et al., 2014) and with food characterized by warning sensations, such as pungency and sourness Spinelli et al., 2018). ...
The use of phenol compounds obtained from unripe grapes as antioxidant sustainable food ingredients is challenging due to their specific sensory attributes, such as sourness and astringency. The aim was to evaluate sensory attributes perception and consumers' liking for beetroot purees added with phenols from unripe grapes. According to hedonic responses, consumer clusters were identified and characterized for eating behavioral attitudes. Three hundred two subjects (56% women, 18–60 years old) evaluated sweet, sour, astringency, and overall flavor intensity of and liking for four beetroot puree samples added with increasing phenols concentrations (0–1.93 g/kg). Results showed that liking decreased with increasing phenols. Interestingly, samples with highest phenols concentration, characterized by sourness, and astringency, were preferred by a segment of consumers (39% of the group). This group was characterized by a low food neophobia and tended to have high emotional eating scores compared to consumers preferring samples without or with the lowest amount of extract. These results suggest that the development of functional phenol-enriched products using winemaking by-products is challenging due to their sensory properties that negatively influence consumers' acceptance. However, with appropriate segmentation strategies it is possible to identify specific consumer targets who could appreciate these new functional foods.
Practical Applications
Unripe grapes can be used as a sustainable phenol source for the development of new highly antioxidant foods. Indeed, an addition till 1.9 g/kg, besides improving both the nutritional content of the food matrices, as well as promoting the reuse of winemaking by-products, could be considered feasible from a sensory point of view. Specifically, new sustainable plant-based food product, characterized by specific sensory attributes, could be target for specific groups of consumers to foster the transition to the consumption of food products developed using value-added and sustainable ingredients.
... Although FN is defined, and prima facie measured, as a response to food novelty, there is evidence that high scores on the FNS also reflect rejection of, or lower preference for, foods that vary along dimensions other than familiarity. In addition to novel foods, those with higher FN also give lower liking ratings to, and are less likely to consume or even try, many familiar foods (De Toffoli et al., 2019;Hursti & Sjoden, 1997;Jaeger, Rasmussen, & Prescott, 2017;Knaapila et al., 2011;Laureati et al., 2018;Mustonen, Oerlemans, & Tuorila, 2012;Raudenbush & Frank, 1999;Siegrist, Hartmann, & Keller, 2013;Tuorila, Lahteenmaki, Pohjalainen, & Lotti, 2001). They also show a reluctance to re-try foods that they have already tasted (Raudenbush & Frank, 1999). ...
... In addition to stimulus novelty, high arousal also reflects complexity and intensity in sensory stimuli (Berlyne, 1970;Giacalone, Duerlund, Boegh-Petersen, Bredie, & Frost, 2014;Spinelli et al., 2020). Thus, high FN is associated with reduced liking for, and choice of, foods that are intensely flavoured by being bitter, astringent or highly pungent (De Toffoli et al., 2019;Laureati et al., 2018). This has been interpreted as due to reactions to inherent warning signals that foods may be dangerous to consume (Spinelli et al., 2020). ...
Food neophobia (FN) at moderate to high levels is very common among adult populations in all cultures and is usually defined in terms of rejection of unfamiliar foods. However, food rejection in FN is only partly related to food familiarity. Experimental and survey studies have suggested that unpleasantly high arousal may be induced by food novelty, but also be produced by foods with intense or complex flavours, that are perceived as dangerous or foreign, or that have unusual ingredients. Liking for foods with these characteristics have recently been shown to be strongly negatively associated with FN. Thus, induced high arousal may underlie food rejection in FN. Here, we collected familiarity, liking and arousal ratings, and scores on the standard Food Neophobia Scale from more than 7000 consumers in four countries - Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia - for a series of food names that were manipulated to produce standard and 'high arousal' (variant) versions of the same foods. Consistent across all four countries, arousal ratings increased, and liking decreased, with decreases in food familiarity. Variant food names were always associated with ratings of higher arousal than the standard names. The variant foods were generally less familiar than the standard foods, although this was not a necessary condition for their higher arousal ratings, suggesting that the other arousal-inducing factors (e.g., flavour intensity) also played a role. Across all foods, arousal ratings increased, and liking ratings decreased, as FN increased, but these effects were accentuated for the variant foods. The consistency of these effects across multiple countries supports a view that arousal is universally a strong determinant of liking for foods and that this underlies the rejection of foods, familiar and novel, in FN.
... Thirdly, none of the afore-mentioned studies has considered key mediators of sensory responsiveness such as hedonics, attitudes and personality traits (e.g., Köster, 2009). Given how both liking and psychological background can mediate variations in oral acuity ultimately shaping food choices (e.g., Laureati et al., 2018;Spinelli et al., 2018), including such factors in protocols that seek to link aspects closely related to dietary habits turns out to be crucial. Lastly, only a few studies reported measures capturing individual dietary habits (e.g., , and the minority (Fluitman et al., 2021;Solemdal et al., 2012) has considered sufficiently large cohorts in the light of the numerous confounders (demographic, dietary, environmental) affecting both chemosensation and the gastrointestinal ecosystem (e.g., Diószegi et al., 2019;Vujkovic-Cvijin et al., 2020). ...
... While PROP responsiveness varies along a continuum, discrete grouping is a common approximation of this trait (e.g., Dinnella et al., 2018;Laureati et al., 2018) as functional to easily investigate the hostrelated features of similarly responsive individuals. Accordingly, the average of bitterness ratings across the two strips was individually considered to group volunteers falling into the lowest (gLMS < 9.5), the second and the third (9.5 ≥ gLMS ≤ 31.3), and the highest (gLMS > 31.3) ...
Mounting evidence suggests that ingestive behaviors may also be affected by putative interplays between taste and gut microbiota. As yet empirically unproven, we here tested the hypothesis that variations in sensory perception in foods can mirror gut microbial ecology and shape individual dietary habits. One hundred healthy participants (52 % women, 18–30 y/o) remotely attended a 7-day (D) lasting protocol, and evaluated bitterness (D1) of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) plus liking (D2) and intensity of sensations (D4) evoked by 5 liquid and 5 solid foods, each selected to elicit a target sensation (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, pungent). Furthermore, volunteers completed a battery of psychological questionnaires (D3), a 4-day dietary record (D1–D7), and provided one stool sample for fecal microbiota profiling by 16S rRNA gene sequencing (D4). Using a data-driven segmentation approach based on intensity scores, we identified two distinct profiles that were hypo- (CL-1, n = 36, 55.5 % women) and hyperresponsive (CL-2, n = 64, 50 % women) to oral stimulations. Moreover, CL-2 showed higher percentages of PROP Medium Tasters and pronounced pleasure-oriented attitudes. Interestingly, CL-1 exhibited higher α-diversity metrics and was enriched in 11 beneficial gut microbes (e.g., genus Eubacterium_xylanophilum_group), while two pro-inflammatory microbial genera (Ruminococcus gnavus group, Eggerthella) associated with CL-2. Relatedly, CL-1 declared higher intakes of fibers and vegetable proteins, whilst CL-2 habitually consumed more saturated fats. We provide the first empirical evidence that simultaneous variations in sensory acuity and gut microbial consortia associate with different dietary habits, thus paving the way for unravelling the complex link between host-related non-genetic factors and aetiology of eating behaviors.
... The degree of acceptance of the use of insects as food for livestock feeding was assessed using a seven-point Likert scale (1 = definitely no; 7 = definitely yes). Food neophobic attitude was quantified using the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) developed [29] and validated in Italian by Laureati et al. [30]. The FNS consists of ten items assessed with a 7-point agreement scale ranging from 1 = "totally disagree" to 7 = "totally agree". ...
... Participants' segmentation showed cluster "ready" being the largest. Results are in agreement with a previous Italian study, where the majority of respondents stated that they were ready to accept insects in animal feed [30,37]. Results indicate that the consumption intention of the "ready" cluster toward eggs from insect-fed hens can be supported by the indication of product origin, especially if perceived as local. ...
Demand for eggs from laying hens is increasing as the world population continues to grow. The use of insects as animal feed is a strategic opportunity to find a new innovative, economic and sustainable source of protein. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Italian consumer inclination for eggs produced with the use of insect-fed hens. The investigation on consumers’ readiness to adopt eggs from insect-fed hens was carried out through an online survey conducted on 510 participants. Survey results outlined four different clusters on the basis of the willingness to buy/eat eggs fed with insects: “ready” (40.1%), “environmentalist” (24.3%), “cautious” (21.7%), and “reluctant” (13.9%). “Ready”, “environmentalist”, and “cautious” were quite favorable to the use of insects as feed stuffs and share drivers for product choice: cheap, organic, and with an explicit indication of use of insects. On the other hand, for the “reluctant”, the diet based on insects was the main negative factor influencing product acceptance. This cluster also showed the highest level of neophobia. Italian consumers showed a considerable level of readiness to accept insects as feed material for egg production, which should be reinforced with further information on the origin and the environmental benefit of using insects.
... Based on the calculated total score, subjects were split into two sub-groups representing low and high scores, using the median value as a cut-off. Participants with the median score were excluded from the dataset (30 subjects) [42]. ...
... On these reasonable hypotheses, the present results are in accordance with other studies that showed a strong relationship between food neophobia levels and food familiarity [22,42]. Those studies demonstrated that neophobic subjects like unfamiliar food significantly less than neophilic ones. ...
The study aimed to investigate the role of sensitivity to flowability on food liking and
choice, the relationship between sensitivity to flowability and food neophobia, and its role in food liking. Five chocolate creams were prepared with different levels of flowability, and rheological measurements were performed to characterise them. One hundred seventy-six subjects filled in
the Food Neophobia Scale and a food choice questionnaire (FCq). The FCq was developed to evaluate preferences within a pair of food items similar in flavour but different in texture. Secondly, the subjects evaluated their liking for creams (labelled affective magnitude (LAM) scale) and the flowability intensity (generalised labelled magnitude (gLM) scale). The subjects were clustered into three groups of sensitivity and two groups of choice preference. The effect of individual flowability sensitivity on food choice was investigated. Finally, the subjects were clustered into two groups according to their food neophobia level. The sensitivity to flowability significantly affected the liking
of chocolate creams and the solid food choice. The liking of chocolate creams was also affected by the individual level of neophobia (p = 0.01), which, in turn, was not correlated to flowability sensitivity.
These results confirm that texture sensitivity and food neophobia affect what a person likes and drives what a person chooses to eat.
... Psychological traits have been found to affect food behaviors and taste sensitivity. Neophobia, defined as the reluctance to consume unfamiliar foods, is associated with a lower preference for vegetables and lower diet variety [39,41]. In addition, neophobics perceive pungency and astringency in food products as more intense, and like the most pungent and astringent foods less than neophiliacs [41,42]. ...
... Neophobia, defined as the reluctance to consume unfamiliar foods, is associated with a lower preference for vegetables and lower diet variety [39,41]. In addition, neophobics perceive pungency and astringency in food products as more intense, and like the most pungent and astringent foods less than neophiliacs [41,42]. Individuals highly sensitive to visceral disgust (disgust related to rotten food, vermin and body fluids) find pungent foods more intense, and like and choose them less [42]. ...
ALTERTASTE is a prospective study to evaluate changes in taste/flavor perception and food preferences in patients treated with adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast or colorectal cancer. The study adopts a longitudinal approach. Taste and odor responsiveness, food preferences and habits, emotions elicited by foods, and quality of life will be measured at six-time points: before chemotherapy (T0), after two cycles (T1, after around 1 month), after four cycles (T2, after around 2 months), after six cycles (T3, after around 4 months), at the end of chemotherapy (T4, after around 6 months) and 3 months after the conclusion of the therapy (T5). In addition, patients will be characterized for oral responsiveness and their psychological traits and attitudes toward food. The ALTERTASTE trial is expected to improve the understanding of the impact of chemotherapy on taste and smell and the repercussions of these alterations on food behaviors. Furthermore, the trial aims to develop an easy and reliable procedure to test smell, taste and food behavior alterations to allow a routine measure with patients.
Clinical trial registration: NCT04495387 (ClinicalTrials.gov)
... This is in contrast with our initial hypothesis, as intensity is a source of arousal (Jaeger et al., 2023) and we would have expected to find a more robust effect of FN for the sample receiving the highest intensity ratings. A possible explanation to this is that the higher overall arousal scores obtained for this sample may have masked neophobia-related differences compared to when sensory characteristics are more subtle (Laureati et al., 2018). Alternatively, as the salmon sample was the only one recognized for its raw ingredient during the sensory description (see Table 6) and salmon is the most consumed species in Sweden (Borthwick et al., 2019), a certain degree of familiarity could have offset the impact of FN. ...
... Second, conscious taste perception never arises as a standalone phenomenon. Indeed, hedonics, attitudes or psychological traits (among others) act as important confounders of how food tastes to different individuals (e.g., Laureati et al., 2018;Spinelli et al., 2018), and can promote dissimilarities in food choices (Köster, 2009) ultimately shaping the salivary microbiota (Valentino et al., 2022). Despite this, such factors have only been sparsely operationalized in previous reports (Mameli et al., 2019;Valentino et al., 2022). ...
Oral microbiota-host interactions are gaining recognition as potential factors contributing to interindividual variations in taste perception. However, whether such possible links imply specific bacterial co-occurrence networks remains unknown. To address this issue, we used 16s rRNA gene sequencing to profile the salivary microbiota of 100 healthy individuals (52 % women; 18-30 y/o), who provided hedonic and psychophysical responses to 5 liquid and 5 solid commercially-available foods, each chosen to elicit a target sensation (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, pungent). The same cohort also completed several psychometric measures and a 4-day food diary. Unsupervised data-driven clustering of genus-level Aitchison distances supported the existence of two salivary microbial profiles (CL-1, CL-2). While CL-1 (n = 57; 49.1 % women) exhibited higher α-diversity metrics and was enriched in microbial genera assigned to the class Clostridia (e.g., Lachnospiraceae_[G-3]), CL-2 (n = 43; 55.8 % women) harbored greater amounts of taxa with potential cariogenic effects (e.g., genus Lactobacillus) and significantly lower abundances of inferred MetaCyc pathways related to the metabolic fate of acetate. Intriguingly, CL-2 showed enhanced responsiveness to warning oral sensations (bitter, sour, astringent) and a higher propensity to crave sweet foods or engage in prosocial behaviors. Further, the same cluster reported habitually consuming more simple carbohydrates and fewer beneficial nutrients (vegetable proteins, monounsaturated fatty acids). In summary, while the mediating role of participants' baseline diet on findings can not be definitively excluded, this work provides evidence suggesting that microbe-microbe and microbe-taste interactions may exert an influence on dietary habits and motivates further research to uncover a potential “core” taste-related salivary microbiota.
... Furthermore, as hypothesised, astringency elicited a positive response when it was presented at low intensity, while it elicited a more negative response when it was presented at higher intensity, in particular when this was evaluated with the scale. This outcome is not surprising given reports that astringency is often rated as affectively negative (De Toffoli et al., 2019;Endrizzi et al., 2021;Jaeger et al., 2009;Laureati et al., 2018;Lesschaeve & Noble, 2005) but also as a driver of liking in some foods and beverages (e.g. wine) when perceived at lower intensity (Bajec & Pickering, 2008). ...
... To calculate neophobia scores, reverse-scored items were recoded so that the direction of scoring was equal for all statements, and the scores of all 10 questions were summed. The scores were segmented into low, medium, and high by dividing the respondents into three groups corresponding to the lowest quartile, second and third quartile, and highest quartile, respectively [27]. Kendall's tau (τ) correlation was used to determine the correlations between meat and PBMA consumption frequency, and neopobia. ...
Evidence suggests that consumer perceptions and acceptance of cultivated meat (CM) differ between countries, cultures, and consumer groups. Limited research specific to Aotearoa New Zealand (A-NZ) is available. Survey responses from 592 A-NZ residents were analysed to determine CM awareness, willingness to engage with CM, and perceived CM product attributes relative to conventional meat and plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs). The effects of gender, age, meat/PBMA consumption frequency, CM awareness, and food neophobia on CM perceptions were determined. The statements were rated on a seven-point Likert scale. Half (52%) of the respondents agreed they were aware of CM. The awareness was higher in men compared to women (p = 0.036), higher in Millennials compared to Generation X (p = 0.022), and higher in regular compared to infrequent PBMA consumers (p = 0.0003). The willingness to engage with CM and perceived CM product attributes were consistently more positive in consumers who were aware, compared with consumers not aware of CM (p < 0.05). Being male, Millennial, low neophobic and a low meat, or high PBMA consumer was also associated with higher potential engagement and perceptions of CM to varying extents. Segmentation divided the respondents into three groups. The ‘positive’ cluster (41%) consumed more PBMAs and less meat and was more aware of CM than the ‘neutral’ (50%) and ‘negative’ (9%) clusters. In conclusion, consumers in A-NZ are not a homogenous group with regards to their perceptions and potential engagement with CM. Increasing awareness and familiarity with CM will be an important strategy to increase engagement with CM.
... Complimentary Contributor Copy g) Convenience (Spence, 2017); h) Neophobia and neophilia Laureati et al., 2018;Rioux et al., 2018); i) In vitro meat (Acevedo et al., 2018;Stephens et al., 2018); j) The use of blood and haeme derivatives (Stephens et al., 2018). ...
Since ancient times, human beings have consumed plants, and different cultures have
found many health benefits from them. These have been attributed to the magical powers
that plants possess or to the divine intervention of gods. However, since the advent of
science and research, it has been found that these curative benefits come from a high
content of secondary metabolites such as anthocyanins, flavonoids, terpenes, and phenols,
among many other compounds, whose biological and pharmacological activity has been
proven. Various African, Asian, and pre-Columbian cultures, among others, have
understood the healing powers of many plants from ancestral knowledge. In this chapter,
we present a brief description report about the use of the anthocyanin content of some
fruits, flowers, barks, and herbs. The applications of these plants in traditional medicine
and some scientific research that support the traditional uses is also presented.
... Twenty-eight food items were selected to represent the sensory variety in the categories of fruits (n = 10, apple, clementine, grapes, grapefruit, kiwi, orange, pineapple, raspberry, strawberry, watermelon), vegetables (n = 10, arugula, broccoli, carrot, corn, green beans, iceberg salad, peas, spinach, squash, tomato), and desserts/juices (n = 8, dark chocolate, fruit yogurt, grapefruit juice, milk chocolate, natural yogurt, orange juice, strawberry sorbet, vanilla ice cream). The products were selected among healthier (vegetables, fruits) and less healthy categories (desserts/juices) to include familiar (and some less familiar) options in both countries (Norway and Italy) based on previous studies (Dinnella et al. 2016, Monteleone et al. 2017, Laureati et al. 2018) considering products commonly consumed in Europe by preadolescents. ...
Emoji are supposed to simulate facial expressions that convey specific emotions or other situational meanings that are language-independent indicators of emotions with shared meanings between different countries. However, some research demonstrated that the meaning of emoji can differ across countries in adults, but little is known about preadolescents. The aim of Study 1 was to compare the semantic emotional meaning of emoji to describe food experiences between 11-13-y.o. Italian (n=92) and Norwegian (n=109) preadolescents by asking children to describe 46 emoji with emotion words (n=31) using the Check-All-That-Apply format. Spearman’s correlation on the relative frequencies resulting from the Cochran’s Q test and Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) on the total frequencies of emotion words were applied to compare the emotional meaning between countries. Italian and Norwegian preadolescents were found to describe emoji with overlapping emotional meaning. This allowed the application of an emoji-based self-report questionnaire (CATA Emoji Pair Questionnaire) to measure food-elicited emotions in response to 28 food names of three food categories (fruits, vegetables, desserts/juices) in 148 Norwegian preadolescents (11-13-y.o.) (Study 2). Results showed that emoji pairs discriminated across and within food categories. Emoji pairs were shown to discriminate between food names in the vegetable and dessert/juice category despite similar liking of the products, and to give important additional information helping a better understanding of preadolescents’ food preferences.
... These questions were used in other studies carried out in Italy (46)(47)(48). Food Neophobia was quantified with the Child Food Neophobia Scale (CFNS) developed by Pliner (49) and validated in Italy by Laureati et al. (50). The CFNS consists of 10 items (five referring to neophiliac and five to neophobic attitude) evaluated with a 7-point scale ranging from 1 = "I strongly disagree" to 7 = "I strongly agree." ...
Objective
This paper aims to evaluate whether changes in lifestyle and eating habits resulting from the Covid-19 emergency have influenced the post-pandemic level of food neophobia and in children living in an Italian central region.
Methods
A sample of 99 children took part in a retrospective assessment carried out with a self-administrated questionnaire. Pre and post-pandemic evaluation of eating habits, physical activity, and lifestyle indicators was carried out. Food neophobia was evaluated following the Child Food Neophobia Scale (CFNS). Descriptive statistics were produced. A contingency analysis was performed to check associations between variables.
Results
For a large part of the sample (97%) the selective food refusal did not change during the pandemic period. About 70% of participants did not change their eating habits, with some subgroups reporting an increase in the consumption of fruits (22.2%), vegetables (19.2%), and legumes (21.2%). Relevantly the impact of the pandemic on the sedentary attitude passed from 25.3 to 70.7%. Neophobia was not associated with ponderal status ( p -value 0.5). However, in normal-weight children, a high prevalence of intermediate-level neophobia (78.4%) was found. 39.4% of the studied children were involved in meal preparation during social isolation, with an increase in the proportion of children that shared all meals with their family (32.3% vs. 78.8%). Non-coercive parent behaviors in reaction to food refusal were associated with low levels of neophobia ( p -value < 0.05).
Discussion
In this sample, for the effect of parents’ attitudes, the pandemic positively affected children’s food habits and, consequently, the level of neophobia after the social restrictions. The main implication of the study is the importance of capitalizing on the period of restrictions in order to involve children in meal sharing and food preparation.
... Food neophobia, defined as the reluctance to try novel food, showed a clear negative relationship with stated liking for meat both in women and in men. Recent data on a large population sample showed a significant detrimental effect of food neophobia on acceptance of commonplace foods and suggest that overall neophobic individuals like and enjoy food less than people with a lower food neophobia level (Jaeger, Rasmussen, & Prescott, 2017;Laureati et al., 2018). In addition, food neophobia was related to the mental predisposition to disgust elicited, among others, by the animal origin and appearance cues (such as disgust with blood and raw meat) that may lead to the avoidance of meat (Tuorila & Hartmann, 2020). ...
Demographics, anthropometrics, oral responsiveness to sensory stimuli and psycho-attitudinal traits were collected from a representative Italian population sample (n = 2384; 58% women, age 18–60 years) and considered as possible explanatory variables affecting meat liking. Differences in motives underlying individual variation in liking for meat were independently investigated by gender. Three groups of subjects were identified based on liking ratings: Slightly Likers, Likers and Lovers. Both common and gender-specific variables affecting liking for meat were identified. The interest in food (including its rewarding function) and eating experience, low food neophobia and relatively high Body Mass Index characterized meat Lovers irrespective to gender. The careful food selection and the food comforting function further characterized women meat Lovers. Men Slightly Likers were characterized by the interest for health-related food aspects, importance assigned to naturalness and restrained eating. Markers of oral responsiveness were ineffective for describing variation in liking for meat.
... The validated Italian version of the food neophobia questionnaire [45] was applied to investigate the level of reluctance to try and eat unfamiliar foods. The questionnaire consists of 10 statements evaluated using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from "I strongly disagree" (score 1) to "I strongly agree" (score 7). ...
Agrobiodiversity conservation includes strategies and actions to be taken to prevent landrace loss, a worldwide problem. Landraces are local varieties that have agricultural, cultural, and historical value but most of these are not studied yet. This research aimed to study the nutritional and phytochemical characteristics of the “Copafam” bean. In addition, the sensory properties and consumers’ hedonic ratings in a model food formulation (biscuits) made by this landrace have been examined. The results show that “Copafam” had a high dietary fiber content (34.83 ± 2.48 g/100 g dw) and it resulted in a great source of secondary metabolites as polyphenols (121.36 ± 5.31 mg GAE/g dw), flavonoids (6.51 ± 0.17 mg/kg dw), and anthocyanins (28.11 ± 0.16 mg Cy3 G/kg dw), having remarkable antioxidant activity too. Biscuits made from “Copafam” bean flour were characterized by a darker color and crunchy texture, and it was considered acceptable by consumers. All these characteristics make it a resource of great interest for innovative forms of consumption like fortified foods. This research showed that landraces can represent a great resource for an innovative food industry aiming to preserve agrobiodiversity and promote the sustainable development of mountain areas.
... Once the neophilic items had been reversed (Pliner & Hobden, 1992;Verbeke, 2015), the scores of the food neophobia items were summed to calculate the food neophobia (FN) score for each respondent; the scores thus could vary between 10 and 70, with higher scores reflecting higher levels of FN. Later, in accordance with the limit values of FN used by Laureati et al. (2018) to segment the subjects, respondents were classified into three different groups: the neophilic group (low FN: ≤ 18), the medium FN group (medium FN: 19-35) and the neophobic group (high FN: ≥ 36). ...
Research on alternative proteins is currently increasing to improve food security and sustainability but it is essential to understand consumers’ perception and expectations to promote the success of future foods success. This study compared attitudes towards seaweed, insects and jellyfish, investigating the role of individual variables and proposing a new approach focused on their potential gastronomic use. Using a survey, the willingness to try (WTT) seaweed, insects and jellyfish, willingness to introduce them into the diet (WTD), perception of the impact of consuming them on health and the environment, attitude towards their consumption in different gastronomic modalities, personality traits and socio-demographic characteristics were collected from 1043 Italians.
The results showed a significant effect of the product on the perceived positive impact of consumption on health (seaweed > insects > jellyfish) and the environment (jellyfish > seaweed and insects) and on WTT and WTD (seaweed > jellyfish > insects). Indications on forms of consumption, food preparations, ingredients in processed foods and food pairings more suitable for different consumer segments were obtained. The gastronomic index (GI) developed in the present study was negatively correlated with age and food neophobia and positively correlated with the perceived impact of consumption on health and WTD. The perceived impact of consumption on the environment and previous tasting experience were positively correlated with GI only for seaweed and insects.
Overall, this work provides both a new methodological approach focusing on the gastronomic perspective and insights useful for the future development of seaweed/insect/jellyfish products able to meet the expectations of consumers seeking alternative protein foods.
... The widely used Food Neophobia Scale (FNS; Laureati et al., 2018;Pliner & Hobden, 1992) was employed to assess the reluctance to try novel foods (Pliner & Hobden, 1992), a distinct but co-occurring behaviour in picky eaters (e.g., . The FNS consisted of five positively (neophilic) and five negatively (neophobic) worded items, each measured on a 7-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = "Strongly disagree" to 7 = "Strongly agree"). ...
Interest in adult picky eating (PE), i.e., the unwillingness to eat familiar foods or try novel foods, has grown rapidly in the last decade as a result of its negative health consequences. Fairly poor data are available on the prevalence of PE in Italy, mostly due to the lack of a psychometrically sound tool to measure this construct. Thus, this contribution aimed at translating and validating the 20-item Adult Picky Eating Questionnaire (APEQ) for use in the Italian context. The APEQ was translated into Italian (IT-APEQ) following a standard forward–backward procedure and administered online to a large cohort of Italian adults (N=1030, 69.9% women, 18-75 yo), who also completed a series of psychometric and dietary measures to test both the convergent and discriminant validity of the IT-APEQ. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original four-factor structure of APEQ. The IT-APEQ showed invariance across genders, good internal consistency, and strong test-retest reliability (N=599, 70.5% women, 18-75 yo). As expected, the IT-APEQ was positively associated with eating inflexibility, food neophobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and disgust propensity/sensitivity, whereas it was anticorrelated with indices of diet variety. Moreover, we documented for the first time a negative link between adult PE and adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Our results suggest that the IT-APEQ demonstrates sound psychometric properties. Hence, we advocate its future usage to shed light into other correlates of PE in the Italian context and bolster cross-cultural research on adult PE, which is key to developing targeted strategies aimed at improving diet diversity and quality.
... Written statements originated from the cultural context in which they were developed, and these may lose or change their meaning in another culture (see Ares, 2018). Translating to other languages introduces risks (see Ritchey, Frank, Hursti, & Tuorila, 2003;Laureati et al., 2018). Statements may lose their topicality in time, as suggested by Metcalf, Wiener, and Saliba (2022). ...
An alternative Food Neophobia Scale (FNS-A) was developed in three studies to measure food neophobia (reluctance to eat and avoidance of trying new foods). In Study 1, the original food neophobia scale, FNS (Pliner, & Hobden, 1992), was first critically examined leading to modifications in five and omission of two statements. Furthermore, eight positive and eight negative statements were elicited and introduced along with eight original or modified FNS statements to 575 respondents in South Africa, Lesotho, and Botswana. Study 2 (n=1010) was used to confirm the factorial structure of the scale, and Study 3 (n=141) was used to test the reliability of FNS-A through test-retest data. The structure of the scale was analyzed using exploratory (Study 1 and 2) and confirmatory (Study 2) factor analysis, eventually leading to four positive and four negative statements regarding new foods, loaded on two factors labelled approach and avoidance. Test-retest reliability at a 2 weeks’ time interval as well as convergent and divergent validity measured against other scales was good (Study 3). In all three studies, predictive validity was evaluated against willingness to try or expected liking ratings of unfamiliar or novel food names or food concept descriptions. This evaluation showed satisfactory performance. FNS-A is a promising tool for the quantification of individual responses to unfamiliar or novel foods in an easy and reliable manner, but further studies in other populations and contexts are needed to confirm the applicability.
... The trajectory of this behavior is not clear but food neophobia has been reported to peak between 2 and 6 years of age; however, for some subjects it is a more persistent trait [6]. Previous findings have suggested a positive association between food neophobia and responsiveness to 'warning' food stimuli in adults [7]. This can in part explain the rejection of some types of plant-based food that naturally contains fibers and phytochemicals notoriously characterized by sour, bitter and astringent sensations. ...
According to recent findings, action is urgently needed to promote healthy eating habits among children, especially to increase daily consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables [...]
... Secondly, it is still remarkably common to assess this relationship using simple aqueous solutions [17,31], although this method is widely recognized to have limited relevance to "real life" perceptions of complex food systems. In this vein, the number of studies using actual food tasting to assess hedonic and intensity responses is increasing [2,15,16,20,23,29,46,[48][49][50], but is still limited. Lastly, only a few studies have used a representative sample size [2,16,17,48], which makes it difficult to generalize the abovementioned literature to the whole population. ...
This study, which was conducted as part of the Italian Taste project, was aimed at exploring the relationship between actual liking and sensory perception in four food models. Each food model was spiked with four levels of prototypical tastant (i.e., citric acid, sucrose, sodium chloride, capsaicin) to elicit a target sensation (TS) at an increasing perceived intensity. Participants (N = 2258; 59% women, aged 18–60) provided demographic information, a stated liking for 40 different foods/beverages, and their responsiveness to tastants in water. A food-specific Pearson’s coefficient was calculated individually to estimate the relationship between actual liking and TS responsiveness. Considering the relationship magnitude, consumers were grouped into four food-specific clusters, depending on whether they showed a strong negative (SNC), a weak negative (WNC), a weak positive (WPC), or a strong positive correlation (SPC). Overall, the degree of liking raised in parallel with sweetness responsiveness, fell as sourness and pungency perception increased, and showed an inverted U-shape relationship with saltiness. The SNC clusters generally perceived TSs at higher intensities, except for sourness. Clusters were validated by associating the level of stated liking towards food/beverages; however, some unexpected indications emerged: adding sugar to coffee or preferring spicy foods differentiated those presenting positive correlations from those showing negative correlations. Our findings constitute a step towards a more comprehensive understanding of food preferences.
... The individual FNS scores were computed as the sum of ratings given to the 10 statements, after the neophilic items had been reversed; thus, the scores theoretically ranged from 10 to 70, with higher scores reflecting higher FN levels. The FNS quartile distribution was calculated, and respondents were divided into the following 3 groups according to their FN level [58]: low (FN score ≤ 19), moderate (19 < FN score < 36) and high (FN score ≥ 36). ...
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.
... This may explain the relationship that has been found between responsiveness to PROP and food preferences, intake, and BMI, even if the results are mixed [39,44]. An inverse relationship between PROP responsiveness and BMI was found in several studies both in the general population [45][46][47] and in obese individuals [48], but other studies reported no relationship [49,50]. These mixed results may be explained by the many variables that influence the relationship between PROP taste sensitivity and BMI, such as genetic factors, ethnicity, oestrogenic phase, variations in the endocannabinoid system, age, sex, and cognitive factors [44]. ...
Obesity is a multifactorial disease with several potential causes that remain incompletely understood. Recent changes in the environment, which has become increasingly obesogenic, have been found to interact with individual factors. Evidence of the role of taste responsiveness and food preference in obesity has been reported, pointing to a lower taste sensitivity and a higher preference and intake of fat and, to a lesser extent, sweet foods in obese people. Studies in the last decades have also suggested that individual differences in the neurophysiology of food reward may lead to overeating, contributing to obesity. However, further studies are needed to confirm these findings. In fact, only a limited number of studies has been conducted on large samples, and several studies were conducted only on women. Larger balanced studies in terms of sex/gender and age are required in order to control the confounding effect of these variables. As many factors are intertwined in obesity, a multidisciplinary approach is needed. This will allow a better understanding of taste alteration and food behaviours in obese people in order to design more effective strategies to promote healthier eating and to prevent obesity and the related chronic disease risks.
Food industries are developing new processing technologies, resulting in the emergence of new product categories, including ready-to-eat meals, functional foods and beverages, and plant-based foods, etc. Rapid globalization, changes in lifestyle, consumer awareness, and perception toward food drive further technical advancements. However, consumer perception remains the prime factor for food marketing and technological development. Consumer perception is a trifecta of sensory properties, personal and environmental factors. Sensory and personal factors include consumer age, attitude, health condition, nutrition awareness, and religion which directly influence consumer choice. Whereas environmental factors consist of regional variation in the food process, national economic status, and consumer purchasing power. All these factors affect consumers' decisions to accept or reject foods. Additionally, consumers are more willing to taste innovative food products that assure the safety and quality of the product.
Multiple sensor technologies including electronic nose (E-nose), electronic tongue (E-tongue), colorimeter and texture analyzer combined with chemometrics and dada fusion strategies were applied to characterize the flavor quality of traditional Chinese fermented soybean paste. Principal components analysis (PCA) was performed to divide the selected soybean pastes into three clusters which was not completely consistent with geographical regions of selected samples. Support vector machine regression (SVR) outperformed partial least squares regression (PLSR) in quantitatively predicting sensory attributes. Additionally, prediction of overall flavor of soybean paste based on data fusion of multiple sensor information, with a correlation coefficient of prediction (Rp) of 0.9636 based on SVR, was better than prediction of E-nose and E-tongue data fusion (Rp=0.9267). This study suggested multiple sensor technologies coupled with chemometrics can be a promising tool for flavor assessment and characterization of fermented soybean paste or other food matrixes.
This chapter discusses the role of appetite regulation in food choice and how appetite is influenced by the nutrient content of a food and by its degree of processing. It also considers the main issues that influence food choice in relation to a Med diet, namely taste, cost and convenience, and also variety, health and animal welfare and environmental issues. Appetite and satiation bookend a meal by controlling its start and finish. Two key characteristics of a food that regulate appetite and satiation are its nutrient content and its degree of processing. Co‐ordinating eating patterns with fixed meal times, rather than snacking, may be another factor that helps regulate food intake. Taste has been described as the body's ‘nutritional gatekeeper’ because of its fundamental role in influencing food consumption.
Given the rise of food products targeted at children and the need of healthier products to combat the global rise of childhood obesity, children take an important role in nowadays’ consumer testing. Although children between 4-11 years are already able to perform a range of consumer tests similar to adults, the assessment of children’s food preferences requires engaging and age-appropriate methods. Emotions have been shown to give additional information about food products compared to hedonic measurements, however, they are understudied in children. Growing interest for emoji to measure consumer’s product-elicited emotions emerged in the field of sensory and consumer science over the past years. However, previous studies often selected emoji without the consideration of how emoji are interpreted by preadolescents regarding their semantic and dimensional meanings. Moreover, research found associations between personality traits, taste responsiveness and food preferences, which constitutes another understudied topic in emotion research with children. Understanding this relationship could further help to understand factors influencing preadolescents’ food preferences. To tackle this problem, the aim of the PhD thesis was to develop an emoji-based self-report questionnaire, the Emoji Pair Questionnaire, for preadolescents consisting of a food-specific emoji list with identified emotional meaning and to validate and apply the tool to test its discriminant ability in response to food. A further aim was to investigate individual differences in emotional responses to foods by clustering children according to patterns of emotional responses and by testing the clusters for differences in personality traits, 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) status and sensory responsiveness to basic tastes. A total of 711 children (9-13-y.o.) participated in seven studies, which attended primary and secondary school classes in schools based in Italy (n=454, Study 1-5) and Norway (n=257, Study 6 and 7). Study 1 identified 46 of 92 emoji as food-related and relevant for children to describe their emotions in response to food experiences. Study 2, that used projective mapping, showed that emoji were discriminated along three dimensions, that were interpreted as valence, power, and arousal. Results of Study 3 and 4, that used the Check-All-That-Apply method with emoji and emotion words respectively, were congruent in linking emoji and emotions words. Positive emoji were described by more words in general, which could be xii explained by the context dependent use of emoji, which was clarified in Study 5 (qualitative interviews). Emoji expressing similar semantic and dimensional meanings were grouped in pairs of two, based on the idea that the grouping of the two emoji with the most similar semantic and dimensional meaning allows to better identify the overall meaning of the emoji pair. Emoji with ambiguous meaning were excluded. Finally, the Emoji Pair Questionnaire contained a reduced list of 17 emoji pairs (n=34 emoji) varying in valence, power, and arousal dimension. Italian and Norwegian preadolescents were found to describe emoji with overlapping emotional meaning (Study 6), which allowed the validation and application of the Emoji Pair Questionnaire in Norway. Findings of Study 7 showed that emoji pairs varied between food categories and were able to discriminate between familiar foods despite similar liking. Emoji also discriminated significantly among food products despite similar liking within the food categories of vegetables and desserts/juices, but not within the fruit category. The tasted samples (grapefruit juice spiked with sucrose) differed in liking and in associated emoji. Children were classified into three clusters according to their emotional patterns in Principal Component Analysis. The three clusters differed also in liking, surprise, sensitivity to reward, responsiveness to sweet, sour, and ability to discriminate between food samples. The findings obtained in this PhD thesis illustrate that the newly developed Emoji Pair Questionnaire can be used to not only understand children’s food behavior but also to develop novel products targeted at specific clusters of children considering their individual differences in emotions, personality traits and sensory responsiveness by providing target-specific products.
3D food printing relies on the concepts of science‐based cooking techniques such as molecular cuisine and note‐by‐note cuisines. The market reach of any novel food product is highly determined by consumer's acceptability. Analysis of consumer's attitudes toward 3D‐printed foods is quite adequate in drawing significant conclusions about consumer preference and market trends. The present chapter aims at summarizing the market trends and consumer preference toward 3D‐printed foods. 3D food printing is an emerging technology that tackles the problem of everchanging consumer food choices as 3D‐printed foods satisfy consumers both physiologically and psychologically. However, certain aspects such as food neophobia and social, ethical, and cultural concerns remain as mental barriers to 3D‐printed foods from alternative ingredients. Hence, the present chapter provides a detailed discussion on the consumer acceptance of 3D food printing in comparison with other emerging food technologies (food irradiation, nanotechnology, stem cell technology, and genetically modified foods). The food business model of prosumerism is discussed in context with 3D food printing. Various methods and approaches used for assessing consumer perception of foods are presented along with intervention tools to increase consumer awareness. Certainly, the present chapter highlights the significant aspects of the success of 3D printing technology from the consumers' viewpoint, especially the willingness and perception on the adoption of 3D printing of foods by overcoming the existing social, cultural, ethical, and technical concerns.
The addition of table salt has been reported to enable better acceptance when consuming the least preferred vegetables belonging to the Cruciferae family. Considering the adverse effect of excessive table salt intake on incidence of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, it is essential to explore an alternative healthier option for better acceptance and to encourage consumption of these vegetables. In this study, 261 adult participants were evaluated for their preferences toward basic tastes and food as well as sensory evaluation of a meal prepared from cruciferous vegetables with the addition of two different salts, sodium chloride and salt substitute containing a blend of potassium and sodium salts. A general questionnaire was used to assess taste and food preferences, while the Cruciferous Vegetable Food Frequency Questionnaire (CVFFQ) was used for vegetable intake assessment. The Labeled Magnitude Scale (LMS), Just About Right (JAR) scale, and several hedonic scales were used to determine taster status and sensory evaluation. The results show that a low concentration of the salt substitute did not impact bitterness suppression but did result in higher preference of the cruciferous vegetable meal. Although, subjects self-reported to have salty taste preferences were more sensitive to bitter taste, they did not perceive samples as less salty and less acceptable than subjects with lower sensitivity. The results show the necessity for further examination of the effectiveness of different concentrations of the assessed salt substitute in suppressing perceived bitterness of cruciferous vegetables and regarding their overall acceptance for inclusion in diets.
People suffering from Food Neophobia (FN) tend to follow an unbalanced dietary pattern and show worse olfactory performances. However, scarce data are available on the possible relationships between FN, olfactory performances and the oral microbiota.
The purpose of this work was to understand whether FN and its consequences on orthonasal and retronasal olfaction are related to specific signatures in the oral microbiota. We carried out 16S rRNA gene sequencing of salivary specimens from 83 subjects, whose olfactory performances and Food Neophobia were previously estimated. Our results show that the oral microbiota of people showing high neophobic traits and scarce olfactory performances is enriched in several taxa, such as the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis. We hypothesize that these traits are likely attributable to unbalanced dietary patterns, which would need confirmation from dietary records of recruited neophobic subjects.
Giriş ve Amaç: Stres besin tercihleri ve beslenme alışkanlıklarını etkileyen önemli bir faktördür. Bu çalışma savunma sanayinde çalışan bireylerin algılanan stres düzeyleri, besin neofobisi ve Akdeniz diyetine uyumlarının incelenmesi amacıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Çalışmaya Ankara’da faaliyet gösteren savunma sanayi kuruluşlarında çalışan 93 erkek 26 kadın olmak üzere toplam 119 yetişkin birey dahil edilmiştir. Çevrimiçi anket formu aracılığıyla katılımcıların sosyodemografik özellikleri, antropometrik ölçüm beyanları, algılanan stres ve besin neofobisi düzeyleri ve Akdeniz diyetine bağlılıkları sorgulanmıştır. Bulgular: Bireylerin algılanan stres düzeyleri erkeklerde 15,0±4,2, kadınlarda 16,7±2,98 puan (p>0,05) olmak üzere ortalama 15,4±4,04 olarak saptanmıştır. Bireylerin besin neofobisi skorları ortalama 36,5±10,66 puan (Erkeklerde 37,1±10,07; kadınlarda 34,1±12,51 puan), Akdeniz diyetine uyum skorları ortalama 6,1±2,04 puan (Erkeklerde 5,9±2,02; kadınlarda 6,6±2,06; puan) olarak tespit edilmiştir. Bireylerin besin neofobisi düzeylerine göre algılanan stres düzeyleri ve Akdeniz diyetlerine uyumları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı fark saptanmamıştır (p>0,05). Sonuç: Bu çalışmada savunma sanayinde çalışan bireylerin algılanan stres düzeyleri, besin neofobisi ve Akdeniz diyetine uyumları arasında anlamlı ilişki tespit edilmemiştir.
This research investigated the effect of the food values, positive anticipated emotions, attitude toward the brand, and attitude toward eating a hamburger on purchase intention in fast-food restaurants in Mexico conjointly. The purpose of this study was to discover which variables influenced the consumer´s intention to buy. Data was collected from a survey of 512 Mexicans fast food consumers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized associations. The results showed that food values and positive anticipated emotions absolutely impact the attitude toward the brand, which impacts the purchase intention of the Mexican consumers. Nonetheless, the positive anticipated emotions impact stronger than food values, and the best way to get a purchase intention is toward the attitude of the brand rather than attitude toward eating a hamburger. The authors discussed inferences and suggestions for consumer approaches.
Headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS) with electronic nose (E-nose) and electronic tongue (E-tongue) was applied for flavor characterization of traditional Chinese fermented soybean paste. Considering geographical distribution and market representation, twelve kinds of samples were selected to investigate the feasibility. A total of 57 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified, of which 8 volatiles were found in all samples. Linear discrimination analysis (LDA) of fusion data exhibited a high discriminant accuracy of 97.22%. Compared with partial least squares regression (PLSR), support vector machine regression (SVR) analysis exhibited a more satisfying performance on predicting the content of esters, total acids, reducing sugar, salinity and amino acid nitrogen, of which correlation coefficients for prediction (Rp) were about 0.803, 0.949, 0.960, 0.896, 0.923 respectively. This study suggests that intelligent sensing technologies combined with chemometrics can be a promising tool for flavor characterization of fermented soybean paste or other food matrixes.
Reluctance to eat new foods, known as food neophobia, is well researched in children but not adults. Two studies were carried out to understand the emotional, sensory, and cognitive factors associated with food neophobia in an adult sample, and to propose a preliminary explanation of the decision to taste a novel food named the SEA model (Sensory, Emotional, cognitive Association model). Participants were recruited through opportunity sampling of a university population in the Leicester region of the UK. Study one (n = 534) was a cross sectional study examining associations between self-report measures of food neophobia, emotional variables and sensory variables. In study two (n = 160), participants completed an online cognitive evaluation of 7 images of novel fruits and vegetables, rating perceived familiarity, categorisation as fruit or vegetable, cognitive associations based on appearance (what does the food look like), liking of any associated foods, and expected liking of the novel food. In study 1 it was found that tactile sensitivity and disgust sensitivity were the main sensory and emotional variables associated with food neophobia. In study 2, it was found that food neophobia and lower expected liking of novel foods were associated with disgust sensitivity, associating the novel foods with disliked foods, and lower perceived familiarity. The SEA model further proposes that underlying tendencies and automatic reactions to foods, combine with cognitive associations based on negative memories and negative beliefs about tasting new foods, to create expected disliking of a food and a decreased likelihood that it will be tried. Further work is needed to fully test the SEA model of the decision to taste a novel food, in particular to further examine how associations are formed.
It was recently shown that food neophobia (FN) shows consistent patterns of relationships with the factors from the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). The data reported in Jaeger et al. (2021) [Appetite, 105056], based on consumer surveys in USA, Australia, and New Zealand indicate that each of 11 FCQ factors are negatively associated with FN except for Convenience and Familiarity, which were both positively associated with FN. The present study, based on online surveys with 5752 adults aimed to replicate, using another USA sample, and extend, using samples from the UK and Germany, the earlier findings. In addition, behavioural validation of the observed FN-FCQ linkages was undertaken by directly relating FN to stated frequency of selected food and beverage (F&B) purchases and consumption. The US and UK results largely replicated the findings of Jaeger, Roigard et al. (2021), and for the two exceptions found – Convenience and Weight Control – the directional relationships matched those expected. The German results also partially supported replication, in that the relationships between FN and FCQ factors were in the expected directions, but mostly they were non-significant. Examination of self-reports of F&B purchase and consumption frequencies tended to validate the observed FN-FCQ linkages with the exceptions of Convenience and Sensory Appeal (USA and UK consumers), although these linkages were less evident in the German consumers. We suggest that the concept of high arousal underlying the food choices of those high in FN may help explain why some F&B characteristics and not others reflect FN-FCQ linkages. These findings, along with those presented in Jaeger et al. (2021) have increased knowledge about how FN and FCQ factors influence consumer choices. It is increasingly clear that FN not only influences which specific foods are consumed but also shapes the reasons for food choice itself. Understanding this link therefore allows us to predict at a more global level those reasons that influence consumers with different degrees of FN in choosing foods.
Numerous medical studies have documented vegetarian diets as having various health benefits. Studies have also compared vegetarians with other dietary groups from a socio-psychological perspective. The objective of this review is to investigate the differences between vegetarians and omnivores in terms of their personality profiles, values, and empathy skills. A search was conducted across three electronic databases. Non-randomized, observational, cross-sectional, and cohort studies were eligible. Outcomes provided information about the differences between the above-mentioned dietary groups regarding their personality profiles, values, and empathy skills. A shortened version of the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was used to assess the risk of bias for the included studies. Of the 2,513 different studies found, 25 (total number of participants n = 23,589) were ultimately included. These studies indicate that vegetarians significantly differ from omnivores in their personalities, values, and ability to be empathetic. Omnivorism is associated with an increased orientation toward social dominance, greater right-wing authoritarianism, and, in line with this, a stronger tendency to be prejudiced. Vegetarianism is associated with greater openness and empathy. The values of vegetarians are based more on universalism, hedonism, stimulation, and self-direction, whereas the values of omnivores are based more on the idea of power. To answer a narrowly defined and clear question, issues such as animal ethics, animal rights, and environmental protection are not considered in this review. The findings of this review, showing marked differences in personality correlating to the choice of diet and the increasing influence of plant-based diets on a global level, indicate that further studies about vegetarianism are warranted.
Background
Food neophobia was defined as the unwillingness or avoidance to eat new foods. There are many studies on food neophobia in children, but few in university students. This study was to examine the level of food neophobia of Chinese university students. The aim is to find a way to help them relieve food neophobia.
Methods
A total of 2,366 university students (16–22 years old) from Xinyang normal university were recruited to conduct a questionnaire survey on food neophobia scale (FNS) of Chinese version, which contained 10 questions. Significant difference analysis and principal component analysis were conducted.
Results
For Chinese university students, willingness to try new food, trust in new food, eating disorder, and food pickiness were the characteristic indexes to evaluate the food neophobia. Gender had no significant effect, but long-term nutrition courses had a great impact on food neophobia of university students.
Conclusions
The level of food neophobia of Chinese university students is relatively high. To formulate and implement a continuous diet and nutrition education plan is good and necessary to relieve the food neophobia.
Implications for Practice
These data complement the limited literature on food neophobia of university students, which will help to develop intervention plans to reduce eating disorders and support the need for further research to reveal the potential mechanism.
The combined influence of TAS2R38 genotype and PROP phenotype on oral sensations is still to be clarified. The present work investigates their influence on the intensity of basic tastes and somatosensory stimuli (capsaicin, aluminium sulphate), using a large cohort of 1117 individuals. The possible influences of gustin genotype and fungiform papillae density were also assessed. PROP phenotype was mainly associated with TAS2R38 genotype with AVI/AVI individuals reporting the lowest mean bitterness intensity (12.6±1.26), and PAV/AVI individuals rating PROP lower (46.53±0.93) than PAV/PAV individuals (54.14±1.33). However, 25% of AVI/AVI subjects reported PROP bitterness perception higher than ‘moderate’ and small percentages of both PAV/PAV and PAV/AVI responded very little to PROP stimulation. PROP phenotype significantly affected ratings to all the tastant solutions with ST subjects giving the highest ratings and NT the lowest. An unexpected systematic effect of TAS2R38 diplotype on perceived intensity was found, with AVI/AVI individuals rating tastant solution intensity higher than PAV/AVI and PAV/PAV for all the stimuli. Recursive partitioning analysis was used to determine the influence of the explanatory variables (TAS2R38 diplotype, PROP status, age and gender) on intensity for each tastant solution. Regression trees indicated that TAS2R38 genotype is the most important variable for explaining differences in intensity of basic tastes and astringency, when compared to PROP responsiveness, gender, and age. Gender was the primary determinant of heightened perception of pungency. PROP status was the second most influential variable in all the models, with limited influence only on sweetness and umami perception. No significant variations of intensity of taste and somatosensory sensations were found in association to gustin polymorphism or fungiform papillae density. These findings call for a re-examination of the notion that the TAS2R38 gene uniquely controls PROP tasting and for future research devoted to a more in-depth genetic characterization of the AVI/AVI group and its possible associations with other polymorphisms.
The food neophobia scale has been reported to be a valid and reliable instrument over the nearly thirty years since its development, becoming the most highly used measure of food neophobia. However, concerns raised over the wording of items and the unidimensional nature of the scale has resulted in the evolution of several versions with varying items, item numbers and response sets. The current study attempted to validate the ten-item scale using factorial validation in a large Australian sample (n = 2242) but found the instrument a reliable and valid measure of food neophobia in a six-item unidimensional version previously identified in the literature. Theoretically supported correlations of the approach and avoidance facets of food neophobia with extraversion and neuroticism establish construct validity and a post hoc evaluation of a new measure of the motivation to eat new foods is included in the evaluation.
Compounds found in a number of foods such as herbs and spices, elicit chemesthetic sensations. This chapter explores the factors underlying the variability in response to chemesthetic sensations from food and the mechanisms by which such sensations can shift from aversive to appetitive. Genetic influences on oral sensitivity may account for individual differences at baseline, while personality differences or cognitive factors may account for the willingness to explore and ultimately incorporate novel food sensations, including initially aversive ones. Additionally, post-ingestive benefits for some may also contribute to continued liking and consumption. To be sure, it is likely that more than one factor plays a role in the acquisition and maintenance of preference for spicy oral sensations, and it is abundantly clear that pungent spices will continue to elicit highly valued and appetitive sensations in the diets of many cultures, worldwide.
The evidence base for the health effects of spice consumption is insufficient, with only one large population-based study and no reports from Europe or North America. Our objective was to analyze the association between consumption of hot red chili peppers and mortality, using a population-based prospective cohort from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) III, a representative sample of US noninstitutionalized adults, in which participants were surveyed from 1988 to 1994. The frequency of hot red chili pepper consumption was measured in 16,179 participants at least 18 years of age. Total and cause-specific mortality were the main outcome measures. During 273,877 person-years of follow-up (median 18.9 years), a total of 4,946 deaths were observed. Total mortality for participants who consumed hot red chili peppers was 21.6% compared to 33.6% for those who did not (absolute risk reduction of 12%; relative risk of 0.64). Adjusted for demographic, lifestyle, and clinical characteristics, the hazard ratio was 0.87 (P = 0.01; 95% Confidence Interval 0.77, 0.97). Consumption of hot red chili peppers was associated with a 13% reduction in the instantaneous hazard of death. Similar, but statistically nonsignificant trends were seen for deaths from vascular disease, but not from other causes. In this large population-based prospective study, the consumption of hot red chili pepper was associated with reduced mortality. Hot red chili peppers may be a beneficial component of the diet.
Individual differences in subjective response to alcohol play a crucial role in the development of heavy drinking and related problems. In light of this, a growing focus of research has been identifying factors that contribute to differences in response. The aim of the present study was to determine whether individual differences in the subjective experience of rewarding and aversive effects of alcohol are a specific manifestation of general differences in reward and punishment sensitivity. Eighty-nine participants (M age = 22.4, SD = 1.9; 47.2% women) consumed a moderate dose of alcohol, i.e., peak breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) ≈ 0.080 g%, and rated their level of stimulation and sedation at seven timepoints over the BrAC curve. Sensitivity to reward and punishment were assessed by a self-report questionnaire prior to consumption. Multilevel growth models showed that post-consumption changes in stimulation ratings varied as a function of participants' level of reward and punishment sensitivity. Drinkers more sensitive to reward reported feeling more stimulated shortly after drinking and exhibited an attenuated rate of decline in stimulation over the blood alcohol curve, relative to drinkers with less strong reward sensitivity. Reward sensitivity was not related to subjective ratings of sedation, and punishment sensitivity was not related to either stimulation or sedation ratings. Findings suggest that reward sensitivity may increase risk for alcohol misuse among young adult social drinkers by increasing their subjective feelings of stimulation while drinking.
Picky eating (also known as fussy, faddy or choosy eating) is usually classified as part of a spectrum of feeding difficulties. It is characterised by an unwillingness to eat familiar foods or to try new foods, as well as strong food preferences. The consequences may include poor dietary variety during early childhood. This, in turn, can lead to concern about the nutrient composition of the diet and thus possible adverse health-related outcomes. There is no single widely accepted definition of picky eating, and therefore there is little consensus on an appropriate assessment measure and a wide range of estimates of prevalence. In this review we first examine common definitions of picky eating used in research studies, and identify the methods that have been used to assess picky eating. These methods include the use of subscales in validated questionnaires, such as the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire and the Child Feeding Questionnaire as well as study-specific question(s). Second, we review data on the prevalence of picky eating in published studies. For comparison we present prevalence data from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) in children at four time points (24, 38, 54 and 65 months of age) using a study-specific question. Finally, published data on the effects of picky eating on dietary intakes (both variety and nutrient composition) are reviewed, and the need for more health-related data and longitudinal data is discussed.
Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Previous research has identified relationships between chemosensory reactivity and food neophobia in children. However, most studies have investigated this relationship using declarative data and without separately analysing smell and taste reactivity. Our first objective was to assess the relationships between smell and taste differential reactivity in toddlers (i.e. reactivity towards several stimuli), using experimental behavioural measurements. The second objective was to determine the relationships between smell (or taste) differential reactivity and food neophobia in toddlers, with the hypothesis that the more responsive a toddler was across food odours or tastes, the more neophobic s/he would be. An additional objective was to determine whether the potential relationships between smell (or taste) differential reactivity and food neophobia differ according to gender. One hundred and twenty-three toddlers aged from 20 to 22 months from the Opaline birth cohort (Observatory of Food Preferences in Infants and Children) were involved. A questionnaire was used to assess child's food neophobia. Toddlers' differential reactivity for smell (and for taste) was defined as the variability of behavioural responses over 8 odorants, and over the five basic tastes. Smell and taste differential reactivities were not correlated. Food neophobia scores were modestly but significantly positively correlated with smell differential reactivity but not with taste differential reactivity. When gender was considered, smell reactivity and neophobia were correlated only among boys. This indicates the need to study smell and taste reactivity separately to determine their associations with eating behaviours. This suggests that the rejection of novel foods in neophobic boys could be partly due to food odour. This finding is new and clearly requires further investigation.
Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
The goal of the Denver Papillae Protocol is to use a dichotomous key to define and prioritize the characteristics of fungiform papillae (FP) to ensure consistent scoring between scorers. This protocol builds off of a need that has arisen from the last two decades of taste research using FP as a proxy for taste pore density. FP density has historically been analyzed using Miller & Reedy's 1990 characterizations of their morphology: round, stained lighter, large, and elevated. In this work, the authors forewarned that stricter definitions of FP morphology needed to be outlined. Despite this call to action, follow up literature has been scarce, with most studies continuing to cite Miller & Reedy's original work. Consequently, FP density reports have been highly variable and, combined with small sample sizes, may contribute to the discrepant conclusions on the role of FP in taste sensitivity. The Genetics of Taste Lab explored this apparent inconsistency in counting and found that scorers were individually prioritizing the importance of these characteristics differently and had no guidance for when a papilla had some, but not all, of the reported qualities of FP. The result of this subjectivity is highly variable FP counts of the same tongue image. The Denver Papillae Protocol has been developed to remedy this consequence through use of a dichotomous key that further defines and prioritizes the importance of the characteristics put forth by Miller & Reedy. The proposed method could help create a standard way to quantify FP for researchers in the field of taste and nutritional studies.
Food neophobia has been associated with decreased consumption of vegetables mainly among children. We hypothesized that food neophobia in adults is also associated with lower overall dietary quality and higher BMI.
Data for the present cross-sectional analyses were derived from parents in a follow-up family study.
The STEPS study, a longitudinal study of health and development of a cohort of children born in south-west Finland.
The parents, 1178 women (age 19-45 years, mean 32·2 years) and 1013 men (age 18-57 years, mean 34·1 years), completed a questionnaire at home when their child was 13 months old. The questionnaire included the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS; range 10-70), the Index of Diet Quality (IDQ; range 0-16) and a measure of fruit and vegetable consumption. At that time the participants' height and weight were also measured by a research nurse to calculate BMI.
Compared with the food neophilics (FNS score 10-24), the food neophobics (FNS score 40-70) consumed fewer vegetables (women: 15 v. 10 portions/week; men: 13 v. 7 portions/week), scored lower on the IDQ (women: 9·7 v. 8·5; men: 8·8 v. 7·8) and had higher BMI (women: 24·2 v. 26·0 kg/m2; men: 26·5 v. 27·5 kg/m2) as tested by one-way ANOVA, with all P values <0·001 in women and <0·05 in men. The food neophobics followed a diet lower in nutritional quality than did the food neophilics, especially regarding vegetables.
Food neophobia may complicate adaptation to dietary recommendations and predispose to overweight.
The sense of taste is often referred to as a 'nutritional gatekeeper', thought to have evolved to indicate energy sources and prevent ingestion of potential toxins. Fungiform papillae are structures on the anterior tongue in which taste buds are situated. They are concentrated at the tongue's tip and they can provide a useful estimate of overall taste bud density for taste research. Some reports suggest taste perception may differ subtly across tongue regions, irrespective of FP number. Other data show an association between taste intensity perception for the bitter compound 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) and FP density. However, contradictions exist in the literature, with more recent, larger studies suggesting little or no association between FP number and perceived taste intensity. Much research has examined the relation between FP density and PROP perception, while other tastes have been less thoroughly studied. Here, in a cohort of mainly Caucasian individuals, aged 18-45, recruited from the campus of a large rural university, we examined regional and whole-mouth taste intensities, and FP density using an updated method of a digital still photography method first described in 2005. We found regional differences in suprathreshold intensity. Although all taste sensations were experienced all over the tongue, once again disproving the mythical tongue map, we also observed bitter and umami taste perception to be significantly greater on the posterior tongue than on the anterior tongue. In contrast, there were no regional differences observed for sweet, salty or sour tastes. The relation of FP density to whole-mouth intensity of 6-n-propylthiouracil, and to the intensity of saltiness of NaCl, sweetness from sucrose or from Acesulfame-K, bitterness of quinine, or burning from capsaicin delivered to different regions of the tongue are also discussed.
Food neophobia, that is the reluctance to try novel foods, is an attitude that dramatically affects human feeding behavior in many different aspects among which food preferences and food choices appear to be the most thoroughly considered. This attitude has an important evolutionary meaning since it protects the individual from ingesting potentially dangerous substances. On the other hand, it fosters an avoidance behavior that can extend even toward useful food elements. A strong link exists between food neophobia and both the variety in one person's diet and previous exposures to different foods. In this review, the more recent findings about food neophobia will be concisely described. Given the suggested connection between the exposure to different foods and food neophobia, this review will focus on the relation between this attitude and human chemosensory abilities. Olfaction, in particular, is a sensory modality that has a central role in flavor perception and in food preference acquisition. Therefore, the latest evidences about its relation with food neophobia will be discussed along with the applied and cognitive implications.
The aims of the present study were to assess whether: (a) visceral and moral disgust share a common oral origin (taste); (b) moral transgressions that are also viscerally involving are evaluated accordingly as a function of individual differences in taste sensitivity; (c) verbal priming interacts with taste sensitivity to alter how disgust is experienced in moral transgressions; and (d) whether gender moderates these effects. Standard tests of disgust sensitivity, a questionnaire developed for this research assessing different types of moral transgressions (nonvisceral, implied-visceral, visceral) with the terms "angry" and "grossed-out," and a taste sensitivity test of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) were administered to 102 participants. Results confirmed past findings that the more sensitive to PROP a participant was the more disgusted they were by visceral, but not moral, disgust elicitors. Importantly, the findings newly revealed that taste sensitivity had no bearing on evaluations of moral transgressions, regardless of their visceral nature, when "angry" was the emotion primed. However, when "grossed-out" was primed for evaluating moral violations, the more intense PROP tasted to a participant the more "grossed-out" they were by all transgressions. Women were generally more disgust sensitive and morally condemning than men, but disgust test, transgression type, and priming scale modulated these effects. The present findings support the proposition that moral and visceral disgust do not share a common oral origin, but show that linguistic priming can transform a moral transgression into a viscerally repulsive event and that susceptibility to this priming varies as a function of an individual's sensitivity to the origins of visceral disgust-bitter taste. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between two well-established markers of taste perception, 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) responsiveness and fungiform papillae number, in obese and healthy-weight subjects. The association between taste responsiveness and food neophobia attitude was evaluated to understand if these variables are linked to nutritional status of subjects. Forty healthy-weight (Body Mass Index: 22.67 ± 0.43 kg/m²) and forty-five obese (Body Mass Index: 37.57 ± 0.77 kg/m²) subjects were involved. PROP responsiveness and fungiform papillae number were positively correlated to each other in both groups of subjects (healthy-weight: r = 0.67, p < 0.001; obese: r = 0.83, p < 0.001). PROP responsiveness ratings and fungiform papillae number were significantly negatively correlated with food neophobia scores in both group of subjects (p < 0.01). Subjects characterized as significantly less sensitive and more neophobics had a higher Body Mass Index. Especially, obese men showed significant lower taste responsiveness (p < 0.05) and higher food neophobia scores (p < 0.05) compared to obese women and healthy-weight subjects, both sexes. The nutritional status of the subjects seems to be linked to taste responsiveness and food neophobic attitude. These data suggest that, between several factors which could play a role in the control of body weight, understand how sensory perception affects eating behavior could give important information to study variables which may determine food habits.
Responses to sweetness are reported in two populations, one segmented by gender and age, and the other one by gender only. The strength of the association between liking for specific sweet foods and liking for an aqueous sucrose solution (20% w/v) is also tested, and health attitudes examined. British adults (n = 1855, age 17-82, mean 55 years, 90% women) and Finnish young adults (n=1292, age 20-25, mean 22 years, 54% women) rated their liking of ten sweet foods and beverages based on product names, and completed questionnaires on Craving for Sweet Foods (CSF) and General Health Interest (GHI). One-half of Brits and a third of Finns rated liking and intensity of sucrose solution. In factor analysis, identical categories of liking for sweet products were formed in each population, one consisting of five processed sweets (“Goodies”), and the other of naturally sweet fruits and berries (“Fruits”). Sugared and sugar-free soft drinks and fruit juice loaded on the third factor. After age 50, British men scored higher than British women in CSF and liking for several sweet products; Finnish women scored higher than Finnish men in CSF and liking for most sweet products. GHI was positively associated with liking for Fruits and negatively with liking for sugared soft drinks. Sucrose solution was better liked by British men than women, with no gender difference in Finns. Liking for sucrose solution was only weakly associated with liking for sweet products based on product names. In two demographically different European populations, attraction to sweet gathered in similar product categories, but manifested differently at different ages and each gender.
Food neophobia (FN) has been shown to be a strong influence on food preferences using primarily small data sets. This has limited the explanatory power of FN and the extent to which it can be related to other factors that influence food choice. To address these limitations, we collected Food Neophobia Scale data from 1167 adults from New Zealand over a 45-month period. Participants also completed a 112-item food preference questionnaire and a self-report 24°hour, a 145 item food intake recall survey, and the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). As a way of providing a structure to the food intake and preference data, in each case the food items were condensed into patterns described in terms of the foods/beverages with highest factor loadings. We then determined the impact of season and participant age, gender, education and income on these factors, as well as the interaction of these variables with FN scores, divided into tertiles. FN was a strong influence on both intake frequency and preferences in the majority of the intake/preference factor patterns. When significant associations with FN were established, both frequency of intake and preference was lower among high FN individuals. Notably, the effect of FN on food preferences was evident on many commonplace foods making up the diet, suggesting that high FN individuals like food overall less than do those with lower degrees of FN. Seasonal effects in food intake were demonstrated, but with smaller impact for higher levels of FN. While associations between FN varied according to all demographic variables, these relationships varied as a function of the intake/preference patterns. Overall, the results suggest that FN is an important barrier to dietary change and addressing diet-related health problems.
Food choice is influenced by many interacting factors in humans. Its multidimensional and complex nature is well recognized, particularly within the sensory and consumer food science field. However, the vast majority of the studies aimed at understanding determinants of food choices, preferences, and eating behaviours are affected by important limitations: the limited number of factors that are considered at once and the sample size. Furthermore, sensory and hedonic responses to actual food stimuli, are often not included in such studies.
Individual differences in astringency perception are poorly understood. Astringent compounds such as tannins stimulate the release of specific classes of salivary proteins. These proteins form complexes with tannins, altering their perceived astringency and reducing their bioavailability. We studied the bitter compound, 6-n-propylthioural (PROP), as a phenotypic marker for variation in astringency perception and salivary protein responses. Seventy-nine subjects classified by PROP taster status rated cranberry juice cocktail (CJC) supplemented with 0, 1.5 or 2.0 g/L tannic acid (TA). Saliva for protein analyses was collected at rest, or after stimulation with TA or cranberry juice (CJ). CJC with 1.5 g/L TA was found to be less astringent, and was liked more by PROP non-taster males than PROP taster males, consistent with the expectation that non-tasters are less sensitive to astringency. Levels of aPRPs and bPRPs decreased after TA, while levels of aPRPs, bPRPs and Cystatins unexpectedly rose after CJ. Increases in bPRPs and Cystatins were only observed in PROP tasters. The PROP phenotype plays a complex role in the perceived astringency and salivary response to cranberries and may be involved in the release of salivary proteins implicated in oral health.
Application of historical knowledge and beliefs about plant-based health remedies has been limited in Western nations. However, with increased awareness of, and interest in, alternative health management techniques has come a growing openness to their potential efficacy for numerous conditions. This chapter focuses on the effects of single pungent spices (i.e., black pepper, chili peppers, cinnamon, ginger, mustard, and saffron) on dimensions of energy balance (i.e., appetite, food intake, energy expenditure, and body weight). Consumption of pungent spices is often linked to enhanced thermogenesis (i.e., augmented energy expenditure and/or substrate oxidation). While hot red pepper (capsaicin) is the best studied of the pungent spices, limited data exist on the thermogenic effects of black pepper (piperine), ginger (gingerols, shogaols, and zingerone), and mustard (allyl isothiocyanate). Individual variability in responses to different spices, doses, and modes of delivery can possibly hamper identification of the potential health effects of spice ingestion.
The present study was conducted to a) generate suprathreshold dose-response functions for multiple qualities evoked by capsaicin across a wide range of concentrations, and b) revisit how intensity ratings and liking may differ as a function of self reported intake. Individuals rated eight samples of capsaicin for perceived burn and bitterness, as well as disliking/liking. Measures of reported preference for chili peppers, chili intake frequency, prior experience and personality measures were also assessed. Here, we confirm prior findings showing that burn in the laboratory differs with reported chili intake, with infrequent consumers reporting more burn. We extend these findings by exploring how capsaicin perception varies by reported liking, and measures of variety seeking. We also address the question of whether differences in burn ratings may potentially be an artifact of differential scale usage across groups due to prior experience, and not chronic desensitization, as is typically assumed. By using generalized scaling methods and recalled sensations, we conclude the differences observed here and elsewhere are not likely due to differences in how participants use rating scales.
Two different strategies for investigating individual differences among consumers in choice experiments using the Mixed Logit Model are compared. The study is based on a consumer study of iced coffees in Norway. Consumers (n = 102) performed a choice task of twenty different iced coffee profiles varying in coffee type, production origin, calorie content and price following an orthogonal design. Consumer attributes, such as socio-demographics, attitudes and habits, were also collected. Choice data were first analyzed using the Mixed Logit Model and then two different approaches were adopted for investigating consumer attributes. The first strategy, called one-step strategy, includes the consumer attributes directly in the Mixed Logit Model. The second strategy, called multi-step strategy, combines different methods of analysis such as Mixed Logit Model based on the design factors only, followed by Principal Component Analysis and Partial Least Squares regression to study consumer attributes. The two approaches are compared in terms of data analysis methodologies,outcomes, practical issues, user friendliness, and interpretation. Overall, we think the multi-step strategy is the one to be preferred in most practical applications because of its flexibility and stronger exploratory capabilities.
People vary in their habitual diet and also in their chemosensory abilities. In this study, we examined whether consumption of a Western-style diet, rich in saturated fat and added sugar, is associated with either poorer or different patterns of chemosensory perception, relative to people who consume a healthier diet. Participants were selected based on a food frequency questionnaire, which established whether they were likely to consume a diet either higher or lower in saturated fat and added sugar. Eighty-seven participants were tested for olfactory ability (threshold, discrimination, and identification), gustatory ability (PROP sensitivity, taste intensity, quality, and hedonics), and flavor processing (using dairy fat-sugar-odor mixtures). A Western-style diet was associated with poorer odor identification ability, greater PROP sensitivity, poorer fat discrimination, different patterns of sweetness taste enhancement, and hedonic differences in taste and flavor perception. No differences were evident for odor discrimination or threshold, in perception of taste intensity/quality (excluding PROP) or the ability of fats to affect flavor perception. The significant relationships were of small to moderate effect size, and would be expected to work against consuming a healthier diet. The discussion focuses on whether these diet-related differences precede adoption of a Western-style diet and/or are a consequence of it.
Taste perception and food preferences are influenced by a variety of factors, including personality characteristics. The aims of this study were to examine the role of personality characteristics, such as alexithymia (a personality construct characterized by inability to identify, describe, and work with one's own feelings), in: 1) taste responses to the bitter genetic taste-marker PROP and 2) food liking. We studied 649 healthy subjects residing in six genetically-isolated villages of Northeast Italy. Data on PROP taste responsiveness, food liking, personality characteristics and TAS2R28 genotypes were collected.
This paper describes the development of a Sensory-Diet database for understanding sensory drivers of food choice and how sensory characteristics influence food intake. Using an Australian children's national nutrition survey, foods were selected as representing the diet based upon frequency, food grouping, nutritional and/or sensory differences. Foods (377) were evaluated by a trained sensory panel for five basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salt and umami), basic textures (hardness, cohesiveness of mass, moistness and fatty mouthfeel) and flavour intensity. A systematic methodology was developed to then assign the sensory values of the tested foods to all foods across the food composition database (3758 foods).Relationships between dietary sensory characteristics and composition were explored. Principal component analysis found diets were largely explained by a salty-sweet dimension in terms of flavour/taste and by cohesiveness, moistness and fatty mouthfeel in terms of texture. For foods evaluated by the trained sensory panel, significant correlations included those between sugar and sweetness; fat and fatty mouthfeel; sodium and salty and umami taste, and protein with salty taste. Across the diet, these correlations remained strong when applied to the entire food composition database with the exception of sodium and salty taste. In this case the relationship no longer held in more complex foods. The Sensory-Diet tool is the first published method for applying food sensory characteristics to a composition database to facilitate investigation of sensory characteristics, food composition and diet.
