Preferred sweetness of a lime drink and preference for sweet over non-sweet foods, related to sex and reported age and body weight

Strong association between the 12q24 locus and sweet taste preference in the Japanese population revealed by genome-wide meta-analysis

The sweet taste preference of humans is an important adaptation to ensure the acquisition of carbohydrate nutrition; however, overconsumption of sweet foods can potentially lead to diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Although previous studies have suggested that interindividual variation of human sweet taste preference is heritable, genetic loci associated with the trait have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we genotyped 12,312 Japanese participants using the HumanCore-12+ Custom BeadChip or the HumanCore-24 Custom BeadChip microarrays. The sweet taste preference of the participants was surveyed via an internet-based questionnaire, resulting in a five-point scale of sweet taste preference. The genome-wide meta-analysis of the Japanese participants revealed a strong association between the 12q24 locus and sweet taste preference scale (P = 2.8 × 10^-70). The lead variant rs671 is monoallelic in non-East Asian populations and is located in the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) gene, encoding an enzyme involved in alcohol metabolism. The association between the minor allele of rs671 and sweet taste preference was attenuated by adjusting for alcohol drinking. The subgroup analysis showed that the effect of rs671 on sweet taste preference was greater in males than in females. In conclusion, we found an association between the 12q24 locus and sweet taste preference in the Japanese population, and showed that the adjustment for drinking habits attenuated the association. This novel genetic association may provide new clues to elucidate mechanisms determining sweet taste preferences.

No evidence for an association between obesity and milkshake liking

BACKGROUND

Prevailing models of obesity posit that hedonic signals override homeostatic mechanisms to promote overeating in today's food environment. What researchers mean by "hedonic" varies considerably, but most frequently refers to an aggregate of appetitive events including incentive salience, motivation, reinforcement, and perceived pleasantness. Here we define hedonic as orosensory pleasure experienced during eating and set out to test whether there is a relationship between adiposity and the perceived pleasure of a palatable and energy-dense milkshake.

METHODS

The perceived liking, wanting, and intensity of two palatable and energy-dense milkshakes were assessed using the Labeled Hedonic Scale (1), visual analog scale (VAS), and Generalized Labeled Magnitude Scale (2) in 110 individuals ranging in body mass index (BMI) from 19.3 to 52.1 kg/m². Waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, and percent body fat were also measured. Importantly, unlike the majority of prior studies, we attempted to standardize internal state by instructing participants to arrive to the laboratory neither hungry nor full and at least 1-h fasted. Data were analyzed with general linear and linear mixed effects models (GLMs). Hunger ratings were also examined prior to hedonic measurement and included as covariates in our analyses.

RESULTS

We identified a significant association between ratings of hunger and milkshake liking and wanting. By contrast, we found no evidence for a relationship between any measure of adiposity and ratings of milkshake liking, wanting, or intensity.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that adiposity is not associated with the pleasure experienced during consumption of our energy-dense and palatable milkshakes. Our results provide further evidence against the hypothesis that heightened hedonic signals drive weight gain.

Comparison of a central location test versus a home usage test for consumer perception of ready-to-mix protein beverages

Ready-to-mix (RTM) whey protein beverages are an expanding product category, and sensory properties strongly affect consumer acceptance and purchase intent. Because consumers themselves prepare RTM whey protein beverages, understanding possible gaps between central location test (CLT) and home usage test (HUT) results is critical. The objectives of this study were to compare results obtained from a CLT and a HUT and to identify the drivers of liking and disliking vanilla-flavored RTM whey protein beverages. Fourteen commercial vanilla-flavored RTM whey protein beverages were rehydrated with spring water at 15% solids (wt/vol) and evaluated by a trained panel (n = 8). Ten representative products were selected for consumer testing. Rehydrated beverages were subsequently evaluated by protein beverage consumers (n = 160) in a CLT. Nine representative products were selected for the HUT. Consumers prepared and evaluated individual beverages over 3 consecutive weeks, trying 3 samples each week. Overall liking and other attributes were scored by consumers in both tests. Data were evaluated by univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. Overall liking scores from the HUT were higher than scores from the CLT. The products with the highest and lowest overall liking scores were consistent between the CLT and HUT. More differences were observed among beverages by CLT compared with HUT when liking was averaged across all consumers. Both methods identified 2 distinct consumer clusters. Fruity flavor and sweet taste were drivers of liking, whereas cardboard flavor and bitter taste were drivers of disliking in both methods. The HUT exclusively identified thickness (viscosity) as a driver of liking and astringency as a driver of disliking. These results suggest that a CLT can be used to differentiate consumer acceptance among vanilla-flavored RTM whey protein beverages. A HUT should be used to provide more intensive insights for mouthfeel and mixing experience-related attributes.

Do Men Have Stronger Preferences for Hot, Unusual, and Unfamiliar Foods?

The present study investigated potential sex differences in preferences for spicy, hot or unusual foods and in food aversions or neophobia. This study also reexamined the issue of a gender difference in preference for sweet foods. Questionnaires concerning past and current food use and preferences as well as food and condiment use in one actual meal were completed by 148 people between 17 and 32 years of age. Their responses clearly support the prediction that men tend to have a stronger preference than women for spicy, hot foods. The results also support the prediction that men are more likely than women to seek unusual and new foods. Both sexes showed the same degree of preference for condiment use.

Flavour preferences in youth versus adults: a review

OBJECTIVE

To understand the available evidence of how children and adults differ in their preferences for flavours that may be used in tobacco products.

DATA SOURCES

A total of 474 articles published between 1931 and August 2015 were retrieved through searches conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and PsycINFO.

STUDY SELECTION AND EXTRACTION

A 2-phase relevancy review process resulted in the identification of 59 articles and information was extracted by 2 independent reviewers.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Findings were grouped by taste and smell preferences, which are important components of overall flavour. For taste, evidence is summarised in the following categories: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami and fat; within each of them, findings are organised by age categories. For smell, evidence is summarised as follows: fruit/herbal/spices, tobacco and coffee and other odours. Major findings from this search indicated that sweet preference in children and adolescents was higher than in adults. Examples of preferred food-related tastes and odours for young people included cherry, candy, strawberry, orange, apple and cinnamon. Currently, all these are used to flavour cigars, cartridges for electronic cigarettes, hookah (waterpipe) and smokeless tobacco products.

CONCLUSIONS

Infants and children exhibited elevated sweet and salty preference relative to adults. Age-related changes in bitter, sour, umami and fat taste were not clear and more research would be useful. 'Sweet' food odours were highly preferred by children. Tobacco products in flavours preferred by young people may impact tobacco use and initiation, while flavours preferred by adults may impact product switching or dual use.

Sociodemographic, psychological, and lifestyle characteristics are associated with a liking for salty and sweet tastes in French adults

BACKGROUND

Various studies have shown that sensory liking influences dietary behavior and that individual characteristics are related to food intake and weight status, but little is known about individual profiles associated with salt and sweet liking.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between a liking for salty and sweet tastes (i.e., a liking for foods rich in salt or sugar and preferred amounts of salt or sugar seasoning in foods) and sociodemographic, psychological, and lifestyle characteristics in a large sample.

METHODS

Individual factors and liking scores were collected by validated questionnaires from 37,181 French adults participating in the NutriNet-Santé study, a large web-based observational cohort launched in 2009 that studies relations between nutrition and health. The associations were assessed by multivariable multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for socioeconomic, anthropometric, and health variables.

RESULTS

In both genders, with increasing age, individuals were more likely to have a high salt liking (men, OR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.30; women, OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.19), whereas they were less likely to have a strong sweet liking (men, OR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.91; women, OR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.68). Current smokers (men, OR: 2.30; 95% CI: 1.90, 2.78; women, OR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.36, 1.66) and heavy drinkers (men, OR: 2.92; 95% CI: 2.37, 3.58; women, OR: 2.57, 95% CI: 2.22, 2.98) were more likely to like salt than nonsmokers and alcohol abstainers. Regarding the sweet taste, women smokers were less likely to like sweets (OR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.89). Highly uncontrolled eaters [men, OR: 2.39; 95% CI: 2.04, 2.80; women, OR: 2.22; 95% CI: 1.99, 2.47) and highly emotional women (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.55) were more likely to have a high liking for sweets than slightly uncontrolled eaters and nonemotional eaters, whereas those with high cognitive restraint (men, OR: 0.39; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.46; women, OR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.50, 0.60) and former weight-loss dieters (men, OR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.70; women, OR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.62, 0.73) were less likely to have a strong sweet liking compared with those with low cognitive restraint and never-dieters.

CONCLUSION

An unhealthy lifestyle that includes smoking and alcohol consumption may influence salt liking, and eating behavior may have an impact on sweet liking. Further research is needed to study the influence of individual factors and sensory liking on dietary intake and weight status. This study was registered at the European Clinical Trials Database as 2013-000929-31.

Genetics of taste and smell: poisons and pleasures

Eating is dangerous. While food contains nutrients and calories that animals need to produce heat and energy, it may also contain harmful parasites, bacteria, or chemicals. To guide food selection, the senses of taste and smell have evolved to alert us to the bitter taste of poisons and the sour taste and off-putting smell of spoiled foods. These sensory systems help people and animals to eat defensively, and they provide the brake that helps them avoid ingesting foods that are harmful. But choices about which foods to eat are motivated by more than avoiding the bad; they are also motivated by seeking the good, such as fat and sugar. However, just as not everyone is equally capable of sensing toxins in food, not everyone is equally enthusiastic about consuming high-fat, high-sugar foods. Genetic studies in humans and experimental animals strongly suggest that the liking of sugar and fat is influenced by genotype; likewise, the abilities to detect bitterness and the malodors of rotting food are highly variable among individuals. Understanding the exact genes and genetic differences that affect food intake may provide important clues in obesity treatment by allowing caregivers to tailor dietary recommendations to the chemosensory landscape of each person.

A marker of growth differs between adolescents with high vs. low sugar preference

Sweet preference is higher in childhood than adulthood but the mechanism for this developmental shift is not known. The objective of this study was to assess perceptual, physiological and eating habit differences between children preferring solutions high in sugar (high preference) and children preferring solutions low in sugar (low preference). We tested 143 children (11- to 15-years old) using sip and spit methodology to assess their hedonic profile, detection threshold, and perceived intensity of sucrose. Their plasma concentration of several hormones, a biomarker of bone-growth, body size, puberty stage, and dietary habits were measured. Eighty-eight children were classified as high preference and 53 were classified as low preference based on their hedonic ratings to a series of sucrose solutions. A marker of bone growth measured in urine and plasma leptin adjusted for body weight were significantly lower in the low preference group. Children with high and low preference patterns did not differ in sensory aspects of sucrose perception, nor did they differ in age, body mass index percentile, or dietary restraint. The change in sugar preference from high to low during adolescence appears to be associated with the cessation of growth.

Physiological regulation through learnt control of appetites by contingencies among signals from external and internal environments

As reviewed by [Cooper, S. J. (2008). From Claude Bernard to Walter Cannon: emergence of the concept of homeostasis. Appetite 51, 419-27.] Claude Bernard's idea of stabilisation of bodily states, as realised in Walter B. Cannon's conception of homeostasis, took mathematical form during the 1940s in the principle that externally originating disturbance of a physiological parameter can feed an informative signal around the brain to trigger counteractive processes--a corrective mechanism known as negative feedback, in practice reliant on feedforward. Three decades later, enough was known of the physiology and psychology of eating and drinking for calculations to show how experimentally demonstrated mechanisms of feedforward that had been learnt from negative feedback combine to regulate exchanges of water and energy between the body and the surroundings. Subsequent systemic physiology, molecular neuroscience and experimental psychology, however, have been traduced by a misconception that learnt controls of intake are 'non-homeostatic', the myth of biological 'set points' and an historic failure to address evidence for the ingestion-adapting information-processing mechanisms on which an operationally integrative theory of eating and drinking relies.

Same genetic components underlie different measures of sweet taste preference

BACKGROUND

Sweet taste preferences are measured by several often correlated measures.

OBJECTIVE

We examined the relative proportions of genetic and environmental effects on sweet taste preference indicators and their mutual correlations.

DESIGN

A total of 663 female twins (324 complete pairs, 149 monozygous and 175 dizygous pairs) aged 17-80 y rated the liking and intensity of a 20% (wt/vol) sucrose solution, reported the liking and the use-frequency of 6 sweet foods (sweet desserts, sweets, sweet pastry, ice cream, hard candy, and chocolate), and completed a questionnaire on cravings of sweet foods. The estimated contributions of genetic factors, environmental factors shared by a twin pair, and environmental factors unique to each twin individual to the variance and covariance of the traits were obtained with the use of linear structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

Approximately half of the variation in liking for sweet solution and liking and use-frequency of sweet foods (49-53%) was explained by genetic factors, whereas the rest of the variation was due to environmental factors unique to each twin individual. Sweet taste preference-related traits were correlated. Tetravariate modeling showed that the correlation between liking for the sweet solution and liking for sweet foods was due to genetic factors (genetic r = 0.27). Correlations between liking, use-frequency, and craving for sweet foods were due to both genetic and unshared environmental factors.

CONCLUSION

Detailed information on the associations between preference measures is an important intermediate goal in the determination of the genetic components affecting sweet taste preferences.

Sensory-specific satiety, its crossovers, and subsequent choice of potato chip flavors

We investigated the influence of liking and flavor intensity on the development of sensory-specific satiety (SSS) to different potato chip flavors, and the influence of these measures, as well as measures of want-to-eat and similarity, on the subsequent choice of a potato chip flavor. In the first study, 35 subjects participated first in a taste test to measure flavor intensity, liking and similarities among six different flavors of potato chips. They then completed six SSS sessions, ending each session by choosing one of the six flavors for additional consumption. SSS varied among the six chip flavors, but was poorly related to either liking or flavor intensity. Subjects chose better-liked flavors, flavors dissimilar to recently consumed flavors, flavors differing in intensity from the recently consumed flavor, flavors that produced less SSS and flavors that produced less change in wanting-to-eat them. In the second study, we used data from a consumption diary panel, and replicated the key finding that when people switch flavors, the similarity to the flavor consumed on the previous occasion decreases the probably of that chip being chosen. Thus switching among flavor choices was driven by liking, the desire for variety and the desire for a product that produced less SSS.

Sweet taste preferences are partly genetically determined: identification of a trait locus on chromosome 16

BACKGROUND

Humans have an innate preference for sweet taste, but the degree of liking for sweet foods varies individually.

OBJECTIVE

The proportion of inherited sweet taste preference was studied. A genome-wide linkage analysis was performed to locate the underlying genetic elements in the genome.

DESIGN

A total of 146 subjects (32% men, 68% women) aged 18-78 y from 26 Finnish families evaluated the intensity and pleasantness of 3 suprathreshold solutions of sucrose (3.0%, 7.5%, and 18.75%) and plain water and the intensity of filter paper impregnated with 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). The subjects also reported the pleasantness and the use frequency of 5 sweet foods (chocolate, candy, ice cream, sweet desserts, and sweet pastry) and completed a food-behavior questionnaire that measured their craving for sweet foods.

RESULTS

Of the chemosensory functions, the pleasantness rating of the strongest (18.75%) sucrose solution and the intensity rating of PROP yielded the highest heritability estimates (41% and 66%, respectively). The pleasantness and the use frequency of sweet foods (both variables calculated as a mean of ratings for 5 food items) and the craving for sweet foods showed significant heritability (40%, 50%, and 31%, respectively). A logarithm of odds score of 3.5 (P=0.00003) was detected for use frequency of sweet foods on chromosome 16p11.2 (marker D16S753).

CONCLUSIONS

Sweet taste preferences are partly inherited. Chromosome 16p11.2 may harbor genetic variations that affect the consumption of sweet foods.

High intake of palatable food predicts binge-eating independent of susceptibility to obesity: an animal model of lean vs obese binge-eating and obesity with and without binge-eating

OBJECTIVE

To determine the stability of individual differences in non-nutritive 'junk' palatable food (PF) intake in rats; assess the relationship of these differences to binge-eating characteristics and susceptibility to obesity; and evaluate the practicality of using these differences to model binge-eating and obesity.

DESIGN

Binge-eating prone (BEP) and resistant (BER) groups were identified. Differential responses to stress, hunger, macronutrient-varied PFs, a diet-induced obesity (DIO) regimen and daily vs intermittent access to a PF+chow diet, were assessed.

SUBJECTS

One hundred and twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats.

MEASUREMENTS

Reliability of intake patterns within rats; food intake and body weight after various challenges over acute (1, 2, 4 h), 24-h and 2-week periods.

RESULTS

Although BEP and BER rats did not differ in amount of chow consumed, BEPs consumed >50% more intermittent PF than BERs (P<0.001) and consistently so (alpha=0.86). BEPs suppressed chow but not PF intake when stressed, and ate as much when sated as when hungry. Conversely, BERs were more affected by stress and ate less PF, not chow, when stressed and were normally hyperphagic to energy deficit. BEP overeating generalized to other PFs varying in sucrose, fat and nutrition content. Half the rats in each group proved to be obesity prone after a no-choice high fat diet (DIO diet) but a continuous diet of PF+chow normalized the BEPs high drive for PF.

CONCLUSION

Greater intermittent intake of PF predicts binge-eating independent of susceptibility to weight gain. Daily fat consumption in a nutritious source (DIO-diet; analogous to a fatty meal) promoted overeating and weight gain but limiting fat to daily non-nutritive food (PF+chow; analogous to a snack with a low fat meal), did not. The data offer an animal model of lean and obese binge-eating, and obesity with and without binge-eating that can be used to identify the unique physiology of these groups and henceforth suggest more specifically targeted treatments for binge-eating and obesity.

Sweet preferences and sugar consumption of 4- and 5-year-old children: role of parents

We investigated the relationships in children between rules that restrict consumption of mono- and disaccharides (MDS), consumption of MDS and preferences for sucrose-containing orangeade. The background ideas of restriction rules we also investigated. To this end, 44 children (5.1+/-0.5 years) performed a rank-order and paired-comparison test of preference for five orangeades, which differed in sucrose concentration (0.14, 0.20, 0.29, 0.42, 0.61 M sucrose). Parents filled out a questionnaire concerning restriction rules and their children's consumption of MDS-containing foods. Stronger restriction rules were related to a lower consumption of beverages that contained MDS and to a lower consumption of MDS-containing foods during breakfast and lunch. The most freedom to choose foods that contain MDS was given during the afternoon. Fifty-five percent of the children who were highly restricted showed a preference for the highest concentration of sucrose in orangeade. None of these children preferred the orangeade with the lowest concentration of sucrose. While 19% of the children who were little restricted preferred the beverage with the lowest concentration of sucrose, 33% preferred the beverage with the highest concentration. These parents generally believed that sugar has a bad effect on health and had similar background ideas concerning restriction rules.

Bitter and sweet components of ethanol taste in humans

This study examined taste descriptions elicited by ethanol and by other tastants in humans. All subjects described 10% ethanol as bitter and approximately 30% of the subjects described it as sweet and/or sour. Highly significant correlations were found between sweetness of some sucrose solutions (0.6-1%) and intensity of the taste of ethanol. In another experiment, quinine (bitter) solutions were rated as similar to 10% ethanol taste and this effect was potentiated by the addition of sucrose. In contrast, citric acid (sour) tended to decrease similarity ratings when added to the quinine solutions. Taken together, these findings suggest that: (1) in humans ethanol tastes both bitter and sweet; and (2) the relationship between sucrose and ethanol intakes previously found in animals and humans may result, at least partially, from similar taste responses elicited by sucrose and ethanol.

Multiple physical patterns in judgements of the creamy texture of milks and creams

The textural sensation generated by dairy creams and milks in the mouth was hypothesized to arise from mechanoreceptor stimulation by the viscosity of these oil-in-water emulsions and features arising from characteristics of the globules of fat. The viscosity, range of sizes of the fat globules and the average distance between globules were varied independently in dairy emulsions and samples rated for creaminess by six assessors. In this brief report, each assessor's performance is tested for multidimensional combinations of discriminations among viscosities, globule-size ranges and interglobule distances. Those individuals whose judgements of creaminess were sensitive to these physical variables appeared to differ greatly in the factors on which they based their judgements. This also depended on whether a high-fat milk or a light cream was used as the standard for comparison. Subject to confirmation of the stability of the discrimination space for an individual using a standard, it is preliminarily concluded that recognition of the physical properties of fat in dairy emulsions is highly idiosyncratic, perhaps indicating that it has to be learned.

Invisible fats: sensory assessment of sugar/fat mixtures

Fifty normal-weight college females tasted and rated 15 stimuli resembling cake frostings and composed of sucrose (20-77% weight/weight), butter (15-35% weight/weight), polydextrose and distilled water. Sweetness intensity ratings rose as a function of sucrose levels. In contrast, ratings of fat content were only poorly related to stimulus fat. Rather, the perception of fat depended on stimulus texture and was a combined function of fat, polydextrose and water. Increasing sucrose levels suppressed fatness ratings: sweeter stimuli were judged to be lower in fat content. The finding that sugar masks the sensory assessment of fats in some solid foods may help explain why so many sweet, high-fat desserts are commonly viewed as carbohydrate-rich foods. The acceptability of the frostings was a combined function of both sucrose and fat levels. Hedonic response profiles to sucrose solutions in water predicted sensory preferences for sweet frostings containing 15% fat, but not those containing 35% fat.

How not to think about immediate dietary and postingestional influences on appetites and satieties

Palatabilities and also satieties are assumption-loaded abstractions from the observable momentary causal relationships between eating or drinking and the situations in which it occurs. Palatability is neither in the food nor in the ingestive movements. Relative preference can vary with context, contrary to the usual concept of stable palatability. Satieties exemplify this, for they can be food-specific, i.e. ingestion-induced suppression of appetite may alter the supposed palatability hierarchy.

Measurement of food perception, food preference, and nutrient selection

Perception, preference, and selection are all objectively measurable performances that discriminate between different levels of entities such as the sugar, thickener, or protein in a food. A rating or an intake may not be controlled by the word that the experimenter or the subject uses to describe it: "protein"-oriented food selection, "thickness" preference, or "sweetness" perception is proved only when the named objective influence, isolated from any other influence, accounts for the observed variations in choice response. Difference-measuring designs can be extended from merely two levels of an influence to a continuum over the natural range of levels, thus evoking linear psychophysical (dose-response) performance from which the strength of that influence can be estimated. Usually, at least a few influences are operative at once on a choice. Because the interactions may vary among people, the only valid causal analysis is at the individual level. Examples are given of food taste tolerance in the elderly, integration of sensory and attitudinal influences, and dietary choices misattributed to carbohydrate craving.