Effects of color and odor on judgments of sweetness among children and adults

Fast food restaurant lighting and music can reduce calorie intake and increase satisfaction

Recent research shows that environmental cues such as lighting and music strongly bias the eating behavior of diners in laboratory situations. This study examines whether changing the atmosphere of a fast food restaurant would change how much patrons ate. The results indicated that softening the lighting and music led people to eat less, to rate the food as more enjoyable, and to spend just as much. In contrast to hypothesized U-shaped curves (people who spend longer eat more), this suggests a more relaxed environment increases satisfaction and decreases consumption.

Relationship between involvement and functional milk desserts intention to purchase. Influence on attitude towards packaging characteristics

Consumers perceive functional foods as member of the particular food category to which they belong. In this context, apart from health and sensory characteristics, non-sensory factors such as packaging might have a key role on determining consumers' purchase decisions regarding functional foods. The aims of the present work were to study the influence of different package attributes on consumer willingness to purchase regular and functional chocolate milk desserts; and to assess if the influence of these attributes was affected by consumers' level of involvement with the product. A conjoint analysis task was carried out with 107 regular milk desserts consumers, who were asked to score their willingness to purchase of 16 milk dessert package concepts varying in five features of the package, and to complete a personal involvement inventory questionnaire. Consumers' level of involvement with the product affected their interest in the evaluated products and their reaction towards the considered conjoint variables, suggesting that it could be a useful segmentation tool during food development. Package colour and the presence of a picture on the label were the variables with the highest relative importance, regardless of consumers' involvement with the product. The importance of these variables was higher than the type of dessert indicating that packaging may play an important role in consumers' perception and purchase intention of functional foods.

Subthreshold Olfactory Stimulation Can Enhance Sweetness

The impact of olfactory perception on sweetness was explored in a model solution using odorants at subthreshold concentrations. First, the impact of 6 odorants, previously described in the literature as congruent with sweetness, was investigated at suprathreshold level in a sucrose solution. Ethyl butyrate and maltol were selected as they had the highest and the lowest sweetness-enhancing properties, respectively. Second, the impact on sweetness of the 2 odorants was investigated at subthreshold concentrations. A system delivering a continuous liquid flow at the same sucrose level, but with varying odorant concentrations, was used. At a subthreshold level, ethyl butyrate but not maltol significantly enhanced the sweetness of the sucrose solution. This study highlights that olfactory perception induced by odorants at a subthreshold level can significantly modulate taste perception. Finally, contrary to results observed with ethyl butyrate at suprathreshold levels, at subthreshold levels, the intensity of sweetness enhancement was not proportional to ethyl butyrate concentration.

A pooled analysis of seven randomized crossover studies of the palatability of cefdinir oral suspension versus amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium, cefprozil, azithromycin, and amoxicillin in children aged 4 to 8 years

OBJECTIVE

This analysis of the results of 7 trials compared the taste and smell acceptability scores of cefdinir oral suspension and 4 other pediatric antibiotic oral suspensions--amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium, cefprozil, azithromycin, or generic amoxicillin--using a visual smile-face scale.

METHODS

Data from 7 randomized, single-blind, cross-over trials were pooled and analyzed. In each study, children aged 4 to 8 years were asked to taste and smell 2 different antibiotic suspensions and assign preference using a visual smile-face scale. Ratings were converted to a numeric score ranging from 5 (really good) to 1 (really bad).

RESULTS

A total of 1011 healthy subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatment-order groups; 965 were evaluable for the taste and smell analyses. Baseline demographics of evaluable subjects were similar among test groups. Approximately even proportions of participants were female or male (50.1 % vs 49.9%), most (84.1%) were white, and slightly more participants were aged 7 or 8 years rather than younger (age 4 years, 16.0%; age 5 years, 17.4%; age 6 years, 18.7%; age 7 years, 23.2%; age 8 years, 24.8%). Of the 965 children who tasted both antibiotic suspensions and determined their preference, 798 (82.7%) rated the taste of cefdinir as really good or good (the highest possible ratings); 712 (73.8%) assigned the same ratings to amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium, cefprozil, azithromycin, or generic amoxicillin (P < or = 0.001). With regard to smell, 671 (69.5%) rated the smell of cefdinir as really good or good; 636 (65.9%) assigned these same ratings to the comparator agents (P = NS).

CONCLUSION

In this pooled analysis of data from 7 randomized, single-blind, crossover trials, children between the ages of 4 and 8 years preferred the taste of cefdinir oral suspension to that of other pediatric antibiotic suspensions. Based on smile-face scores, subjects found the smell of cefdinir oral suspension to be at least as good as that of the comparators.

Temporal Synchrony and Integration of Sub-threshold Taste and Smell Signals

The importance of stimulus timing and location on the perceptual integration of taste and odour was studied based on a sub-threshold methodology. From a panel of 16 people, 12 showed the integration effect previously reported while 4 showed no effect. The experiment was repeated using retronasal and orthonasal delivery of the odour and with tastant present or absent in the mouth. Integration of taste and odour only occurred when both stimuli were present at the same time. Retro- or orthonasal presentation both produced integration providing that tastant delivery was synchronous but the threshold values for the two presentation methods were different. The relevance of these findings to flavour perception under realistic conditions is considered.

Flesh colour dominates consumer preference for chicken

Existing research investigating interactions between visual and oral sensory cues has tended to use model food systems. In contrast, this study compared product quality assessments of corn-fed and wheat-fed chicken products among persons recruited in Northern Ireland. Three approaches have been adopted to investigate the effect of colour upon consumer choice of chicken: sensory assessment under normal lighting; focus group discussion; and sensory assessment under controlled lighting conditions. Initial consumer sensory assessment indicated that wheat-fed chicken was perceived to be tenderer and to have a more intense flavour than that which was corn-fed. Qualitative enquiry discerned that this was because consumers perceived the yellow colour of corn-fed chicken negatively. Yellow-coloured corn-fed chicken was therefore again compared with wheat-fed chicken in terms of flavour, texture and overall liking with the flesh colour disguised by means of controlled lighting. Quality ratings for corn-fed chicken were more positive when the yellow flesh colour was disguised, with corn-fed chicken judged to be tenderer than wheat-fed chicken and more flavoursome. This study illustrates the importance of using a combination of methods to gain insight into interactions between different sensory modalities in consumer quality judgements and adds to previous research on the importance of colour upon consumer choice of real foods.

Effect of ambience on food intake and food choice

Eating takes place in a context of environmental stimuli known as ambience. Various external factors such as social and physical surroundings, including the presence of other people and sound, temperature, smell, color, time, and distraction affect food intake and food choice. Food variables such as the temperature, smell, and color of the food also influence food intake and choice differently. However, the influence of ambience on nutritional health is not fully understood. This review summarizes the research on ambient influences on food intake and food choice. The literature suggests that there are major influences of ambience on eating behavior and that the magnitude of the effect of ambience may be underestimated. Changes in intake can be detected with different levels of the number of people present, food accessibility, eating locations, food color, ambient temperatures and lighting, and temperature of foods, smell of food, time of consumption, and ambient sounds. It is suggested that the manipulation of these ambient factors as a whole or individually may be used therapeutically to alter food intake and that more attention needs to be paid to ambience in nutrition-related research.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT INCREASE THE FOOD INTAKE AND CONSUMPTION VOLUME OF UNKNOWING CONSUMERS

Package size, plate shape, lighting, socializing, and variety are only a few of the environmental factors that can influence the consumption volume of food far more than most people realize. Although such environmental factors appear unrelated, they generally influence consumption volume by inhibiting consumption monitoring and by suggesting alternative consumption norms. For researchers, this review suggests that redirecting the focus of investigations to the psychological mechanisms behind consumption will raise the profile and impact of research. For health professionals, this review underscores how small structural changes in personal environments can reduce the unknowing overconsumption of food.

Acceptance of 2% Ultra-Pasteurized Milk by Consumers, 6 to 11 Years Old

The objective of this study was to determine the degree of liking of ultra-pasteurized (UP) milk by 6 to 11 year olds. For comparative purposes, 2% UP milks were evaluated along with 2% conventionally pasteurized high temperature short time (HTST) and 2% ultra high temperature (UHT) milks. A seven-point facial hedonic scale with Peryam & Kroll verbal descriptors for affective testing with children was used with the 6 year olds. For the older children, a seven-point hedonic scale with Peryam & Kroll verbal descriptors was used. The mean degree of liking of UP milk was rated as slightly below "good." HTST milk was liked slightly more than the UHT milk, which was liked slightly more than the UP milk. How the children felt about milk, in general, significantly affected how much they liked the test milks, with, all milks being influenced equally.

Quantitative descriptive analysis and principal component analysis for sensory characterization of ultrapasteurized milk

Quantitative descriptive analysis was used to describe the key attributes of nine ultrapasteurized (UP) milk products of various fat levels, including two lactose-reduced products, from two dairy plants. Principal components analysis identified four significant principal components that accounted for 87.6% of the variance in the sensory attribute data. Principal component scores indicated that the location of each UP milk along each of four scales primarily corresponded to cooked, drying/lingering, sweet, and bitter attributes. Overall product quality was modeled as a function of the principal components using multiple least squares regression (R2 = 0.810). These findings demonstrate the utility of quantitative descriptive analysis for identifying and measuring UP fluid milk product attributes that are important to consumers.