Perception of sweetness intensity determines women's hedonic and other perceptual responsiveness to chocolate food

Investigating the nutritional value of foods targeting children

PURPOSE

This study aimed to investigate the nutritional values of some low-nutrition packaged foods widely sold in supermarkets and encouraged for consumption.

METHODS

The study used 435 packaged foods from six hypermarkets with high sale capacities in Ankara to analyze their contents of energy/total fat/saturated fat/carbohydrate/sugar/salt based on label information.

RESULTS

Among the products in the scope of the study, the highest values were found in chocolates for fat (33.0 ± 4.28/100 g) and sugar (45.6 ± 5.95/100 g), wafers for saturated fat (19.2 ± 3.89/100 g), and crackers for sodium (0.9 ± 0.23/100 g). Among the 435 packaged foods investigated in the study, the products exceeded the limits designated in the health codes declared by the Turkish Food Codex Labeling Directive in 83.4% of the instances in terms of sugar, 93.7% of the instances in terms of total fat, 92.4% of the instances in terms of saturated fat, and 70.3% of the instances in terms of sodium.

CONCLUSION

Energy/fat/sugar/salt contents were high in the packaged products that are especially targeted for children for higher consumption. Children's frequent and excessive consumption of these products contribute to the prevalence of childhood obesity and increase in related health risks.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level V, descriptive study.

Reliability of a common solution-based taste perception test: implications for validity and a briefer test

The aim of this study was to assess test-retest reliability of a common method for quantifying taste perception and its association with gustatory responses and individual risk for obesity and related health conditions. Forty-six healthy adults rated 20 mixtures comprised of 5 dairy beverages varied in fat content and mixed with sugar concentrations of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 20%, following existing procedures. Individuals rated the sweetness, creaminess, and pleasantness of each mixture during two taste testing sessions occurring 7±2 days apart. Test-retest correlations were of the expected magnitudes (r≥.50) only for the pleasantness ratings of mixtures with higher sugar concentrations. Correlations for sweetness and creaminess taste perception ratings were low, indicating that such ratings may not be reliable over approximately one week, and challenging the validity of such ratings for measuring trait taste perception. A shortened version of the test may be warranted.

The brain tracks the energetic value in food images

Do our brains implicitly track the energetic content of the foods we see? Using electrical neuroimaging of visual evoked potentials (VEPs) we show that the human brain can rapidly discern food's energetic value, vis à vis its fat content, solely from its visual presentation. Responses to images of high-energy and low-energy food differed over two distinct time periods. The first period, starting at approximately 165 ms post-stimulus onset, followed from modulations in VEP topography and by extension in the configuration of the underlying brain network. Statistical comparison of source estimations identified differences distributed across a wide network including both posterior occipital regions and temporo-parietal cortices typically associated with object processing, and also inferior frontal cortices typically associated with decision-making. During a successive processing stage (starting at approximately 300 ms), responses differed both topographically and in terms of strength, with source estimations differing predominantly within prefrontal cortical regions implicated in reward assessment and decision-making. These effects occur orthogonally to the task that is actually being performed and suggest that reward properties such as a food's energetic content are treated rapidly and in parallel by a distributed network of brain regions involved in object categorization, reward assessment, and decision-making.

Impact of the menstrual cycle on determinants of energy balance: a putative role in weight loss attempts

Women's weight and body composition is significantly influenced by the female sex-steroid hormones. Levels of these hormones fluctuate in a defined manner throughout the menstrual cycle and interact to modulate energy homeostasis. This paper reviews the scientific literature on the relationship between hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle and components of energy balance, with the aim of clarifying whether this influences weight loss in women. In the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle it appears that women's energy intake and energy expenditure are increased and they experience more frequent cravings for foods, particularly those high in carbohydrate and fat, than during the follicular phase. This suggests that the potential of the underlying physiology related to each phase of the menstrual cycle may be worth considering as an element in strategies to optimize weight loss. Studies are needed to assess the weight loss outcome of tailoring dietary recommendations and the degree of energy restriction to each menstrual phase throughout a weight management program, taking these preliminary findings into account.

Association of dietary restraint and disinhibition with eating behavior, body mass, and hunger

This study investigated the association of dietary restraint and disinhibition with self-reported and actual eating behavior, body mass, and hunger. A sample of 124 women were categorized into one of four groups based upon high and low scores on measures of Dietary Restraint and Disinhibition using the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire. Half of the participants in each group consumed a high sugar/high fat chocolate pudding as a dietary preload. All participants were given a meal comprised of a standard macaroni and beef product. The interaction of Dietary Restraint and Disinhibition was related to differences in body mass. The Dietary Restraint factor was related to self-reported pathological eating behavior and influenced both perceived hunger and subjective hunger ratings. However, actual eating behavior measured by calories consumed and rate of intake was unrelated to the Dietary Restraint factor. Disinhibition was associated with excessive eating, an increased rate of eating, self-reports of eating disorder symptomatology, and perceived hunger. Hence, actual eating behavior was significantly influenced by the ingestive motivational factor, Disinhibition, but not by the cognitive factor, Dietary Restraint. These data also suggest that the Disinhibition construct is measuring overeating rather than disinhibited eating which implies the disruption of Dietary Restraint.