Development of a sensory tool to assess overall liking for the fatty, salty and sweet sensations
Introduction
The available nutritional guidelines that aim to prevent the health risk induced by overconsumption of too high levels of sucrose, sodium chloride and lipids in foods (Hercberg, Chat-Yung, & Chauliac, 2008) are not well followed by the population. Sucrose, sodium chloride and lipids are known to largely contribute to food palatability, as recently discussed (Cornwell & McAlister, 2011). Understanding the origin of this overconsumption raises the question of sensory preferences for the sensations brought by these nutrients (Blundell & Finlayson, 2004). To better understand this relationship, a sensory tool that enables measurement of liking towards sweet, salty or fatty sensations is required. This liking towards a sensation has to be understood as an overall attractiveness of the sensation.
Even some authors (Hayes, Sullivan & Duffy, 2010) have used a diverse range of solid and liquid foods that varied in sodium to study liking for salty sensations, much of previous studies that assessed such liking have employed one or two simple food models presented with grading contents of sucrose, sodium chloride or lipids. Main food models were: soup, crackers, popcorn, tomato juice or hash browns for salty liking (Beauchamp et al., 1990, Kanarek et al., 1995, Kim and Lee, 2009, Bobowski et al., 2015, Lucas et al., 2011); water solutions, fruits flavored drinks or dairy products for sweet liking (Beauchamp et al., 1990, Hayes and Duffy, 2008, Monneuse et al., 1991); biscuits, popcorn or dairy products for fatty liking (Bowen et al., 2003, Engell et al., 1998, Hayes and Duffy, 2008, Kanarek et al., 1995). Results from these sensory tests based on a few simple foods are unlikely to represent liking for the sensation as experienced in various food models, including more complex food matrices. Such liking is thus unlikely to stand for the overall liking for the sensation of interest. A few studies have shown that the optimal concentrations of sucrose, sodium chloride or lipids differed with the food matrices, probably due to a different taste perception according to the food matrix (Drewnowski et al., 1989, Drewnowski and Schwartz, 1990). In the study of Bertino, Beauchamp, and Jen (1983), the optimal sucrose content was different between a solid and a liquid stimuli with values being 15% in water vs. 24–30% in cookies, but it was related to a similar level of perceived sweetness (approximately 5 out of a 9-point scale). When Mela (1990) plotted the liking scores for 8 different food matrices (with different fat contents) against the perceived fat level, he observed the expected inverted U-shape (Pangborn, 1988, Stone and Pangborn, 1990) unlike that observed when plotted against the fat content. Similarly, Hayes and Duffy (2008) observed that, although all their studied groups of subjects liked highly sweet and creamy sensations (in liking by sensation models), the fat and sugar levels for hedonic optima varied (in liking by concentration models). This suggests that the overall liking for a sensation, as measured in different matrices, may be better determined according to the taste perception rather than directly according to the nutrient content.
Our purpose was to evaluate the liking of fatty, salty and sweet sensations, through a large number of foods being representative of each overall sensation. Instruments already existing were unsatisfactory for this purpose, as they did not assess an overall liking score for the sensation of sweet, salty or fatty. Thus, the present study aimed at developing such a tool that we called PrefSens. Firstly, a development study was conducted over a large series of food models sought to be representative of the usual food repertory of the targeted population and of the various food contexts. The food models and the grading contents of sodium chloride, sucrose or lipids were selected according to their feasibility and their discriminating ability. The perception associated with each level of nutrients within each food product was assessed by a trained panel. Secondly, an application study was conducted over different laboratory tests spread out in the country. The internal validity and consistency of the overall score were explored using the statistical approach of exploratory factor analysis and by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The distribution of the overall liking scores was examined.
PrefSens was developed in the framework of a larger project, called EpiPref, aimed at developing tools for measuring exposure to and liking for fatty, salty and sweet sensations in foods in both consumer panels (several hundreds of subjects) and large human cohorts (several thousands of subjects).
Section snippets
Food products and range levels
Pretests were conducted over a period of one and half years, over the course of six pre-testing campaigns with groups of 43–63 participants.
Food products were selected to represent the usual foods consumed by the French population, based on different matrix types and different consumption temperatures. Each product had to be “homemade” (not commercially prepared) and easily reproducible. There was no cross-variation, e.g. no concomitant variation of fat and sodium chloride in one product, to
Participants
Overall, 341 subjects participated in pre-testing. There were 46% male and 54% female of ages between 18 and 73 years (mean 45.2 years, SD 13.3).
Product selection
There were 69 different food products that were tested including 22 products for fat, 20 for saltiness and 27 for sweetness as detailed in Table 1. For each food product, several ranges of the 5 nutrient levels were tested resulting in a total of 144 food ranges experienced. Based on the technical feasibility of each food product and on the distribution
Discussion
The present study demonstrated a good feasibility and internal validity of the PrefSens sensory tool developed to measure the overall liking scores for the salty, sweet and fatty sensations. This approach provided an overall liking score based on the hedonic evaluation of 9–12 foods per sensation, each food being tasted and rated with 5 grading levels of fatty, salty or sweet sensations. This study demonstrated that it was feasible to combine hedonic data for different food matrices derived
Conclusion
PrefSens is an original tool that will be useful to better understand the determinants of dietary behaviors. To this aim, PrefSens can be applied to a population sample (French or western countries) for which the dietary intakes are well characterized. PrefSens can also be used for a follow-up of a cohort in order to evaluate whether there is a causal relationship between liking and dietary intakes, and indirectly with body mass indices. PrefSens has been carefully developed and grouped a
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) in the context of the 2008 Programme de Recherche ‘Alimentation et Industries Alimentaires’ (ANR-08-ALIA-006), by Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation du Sucre (CEDUS) and the competitive cluster VITAGORA. We thank all the scientists who helped to carry out the Nutrinet-Santé study and Christophe Martin who trained the sensory panel.
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2019, Food Quality and PreferenceCitation Excerpt :Moreover, many sweet food products used in those studies are also high in fat (chocolate, cake, biscuits, ice cream etc.) with some evidence suggesting an effect of sugar on the sensory assessment of fats and vice versa (Drewnowski & Almiron-Roig, 2010; Hayes & Duffy, 2007, 2008; Mennella, Finkbeiner, & Reed, 2012). The impact of the food matrix (Urbano et al., 2016), as well as of the tastants’ spatial distribution (Mosca, Bult, & Stieger, 2013) on sweet taste perception have also been argued. Therefore, to ensure the approach taken truly identified responses solely to sweet taste, only studies conducted with simple sucrose solutions were included in this review.