Sensory determinants of refreshing

Origins of thirstiness sensation and current food solutions

The sensation of thirstiness is the desire to drink water. In certain situations, the ingestion of liquid water can be restricted. As a result, thirstiness is not relieved, resulting in an uncomfortable and distressing situation. The present review describes thirstiness and hydration, the food products and beverages that cause thirstiness, and the beverages and food products currently available to quench thirstiness in individuals with restricted access to liquid ingestion. It also discusses how to measure the effectiveness of calming thirstiness. To diminish thirstiness distress, different alternatives to liquids are proposed. Individuals with swallowing disorders are given thickened water, individuals with restricted water ingestion are given ice cubes or ice popsicles of different flavors, and sportspeople are given energy gels. However, current beverage solutions seem not to relieve thirst fully, although some stimuli like iced water, flavors (especially lemon and mint), or acids seem to work better than plain stimuli and could be added to existing products. Therefore, there is still a need to incorporate these strategies into beverage and food formulations and to test their effectiveness.

Creating psychometric scales for perceptual assessment of fruit juices' refreshing and thickness attributes

Persons look for beverages to satisfy thirst (refresh) and feel fulfilled (thick). However, refreshing and thickness are concepts that lack a measurement instrument that captures an accurate judgment of consumers' perceptions. This research aims to propose a tool to assess consumers' refreshing and thickness expectations of fruit juices. Items were developed through a two-stage qualitative-exploratory study, followed by a quantitative study describing the scale's composition using an Item Response Theory approach. Hence, we suggest a set of items to consider when measuring both concepts from a perception task. Moreover, results show that thickness and refreshing are distinct and independent ideas. We provide a theoretical contribution defining each construct and recognizing the attributes that best describe refreshing and thickness for five different fruit juices. Our methodological contribution is creating a scale for each of the concepts. Practically, developing a thickness and refreshing scale is useful for product developers and marketers who expect to satisfy consumers' needs for soft drinks.

Subthreshold chemesthetic stimulation can enhance flavor lastingness of a soft chewable candy

In addition to taste and aroma components of a flavor, FEMA GRAS approved chemesthetic flavor ingredients deliver a trigeminal experience or chemesthetic effect and provide a third dimension to overall flavor experience. In this study, we explored the impact of chemesthetic stimulation on dynamic flavor perception, acceptability and salivation, with two base flavors (mint, watermelon), using a soft chewable candy as a model food. Each base flavor was augmented with three increasing levels of a mixture of chemesthetic flavor ingredients, which provided a cooling sensation; subthreshold, detection threshold, and supra-threshold levels. Thirty-six panelists were asked to rate the perceived flavor intensity of each sample during eating and after swallowing using time intensity analysis. Lastingness after swallowing was measured as the time for the flavor intensity to drop below 25% of the maximum intensity perceived during chewing. Compared with the control, the addition of chemesthetic flavor ingredients increased the perceived flavor intensity during chewing and the flavor lastingness after swallowing for both mint and watermelon flavor. These effects started from the addition of subthreshold concentration of chemesthetic flavor ingredients and further increased with increasing the concentration of chemesthetic flavor ingredients added. By adding the subthreshold concentration of chemesthetic flavor ingredients, the flavor lastingness was increased by 32% for mint flavor and 22% for watermelon flavor. The acceptability of these weak-flavored soft chewable candy test samples was significantly increased towards 'just right' with increasing concentrations of chemesthetic flavor ingredients, even at subthreshold level. However, chew time and saliva flow rate were not affected by the addition of chemesthetic flavor ingredients. The increased flavor lastingness by the addition of chemesthetic flavor ingredients could therefore be explained by perceptual interaction between chemesthesis and flavor perception.

Sucrose replacement: a sensory profile and time-intensity analysis of a tamarind functional beverage with artificial and natural non-nutritive sweeteners

BACKGROUND

Tamarind pulp contains polyphenolic compounds that exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects with a positive impact on human health. The elaboration of a tamarind-based functional beverage, without the addition of sucrose, can be an alternative to traditional caloric beverages. This study aimed to evaluate the sensory profile and time intensity of a functional tamarind beverage containing artificial and natural non-nutritive sweeteners.

RESULTS

The results of the acceptance test, check-all-that-apply, and time-intensity tests showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the means of samples sweetened with sucralose and samples sweetened with sucrose for attributes relating to appearance, aroma, flavor, or texture, or for overall impression. Samples with natural sweeteners had lower means for overall product impression and a lower percentage of purchase intention. The perception of astringency, bitter taste, and bitter aftertaste may be linked to the lower global impression of the product. The descriptors 'tamarind flavor' and 'refreshment sensation' were higher in products that were more liked. The sample sweetened with stevia showed higher levels of sweetness, bitterness, and longer sweet stimulus duration in the time-intensity test.

CONCLUSION

The sample sweetened with sucralose was the best alternative to sucrose in the functional tamarind beverage. The analyzed sweeteners did not show changes in the perception of the natural characteristics of the fruit used, such as tamarind flavor, refreshment sensation, and astringency. However, the attributes related to sweet and bitter aftertaste experienced in samples with natural sweeteners may have influenced the reduction in the intention to purchase the product. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Investigating sensory properties of seven watermelon varieties and factors impacting refreshing perception using quantitative descriptive analysis

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is known for its refreshing quality, though its sensory attributes have never been related to its perceived refreshment. Modified quantitative descriptive analysis by a trained panel was used to examine the sensory profile of seven watermelon varieties. Eleven attributes including perceived refreshing intensity were measured on a 0-10 line scale using chemical references. Watermelon samples were evaluated with and without nose clips to control orthonasal and retronasal aroma and temperature was included as a variable to observe their effects on perceived refreshment. The dominant watermelon attributes were wateriness, refreshing, crispness, sweet, mealiness, fresh, ripe, and melon. The varieties were best differentiated by refreshing (p < 0.001), crispness (p = 0.002), sweet (p < 0.001), mealiness (p = 0.016), green (p = 0.007), and sour perception (p < 0.001). Captivation and Excursion were the most refreshing varieties. Captivation, Excursion, and Seedless varieties were less refreshing when flavor perception was inhibited; ratings ranged from 6.8 to 7.2 without nose clips and 5.9-6.0 with nose clips (p = 0.002). Refreshing was most positively driven by wateriness, followed by crispness, fresh, melon, and sweet, and negatively driven by mealiness, as indicated by partial least square regression. Samples served cold were more refreshing (ratings of 7.1 without and 6.0 with nose clips) than those served at room temperature (ratings of 4.9 without and 3.5 with nose clips), p < 0.001. This study defined the sensory profile of seven watermelon varieties and showed that flavor, texture, and temperature were responsible for the refreshing perception of watermelon for the first time.

Audiovisual Crossmodal Correspondence between Bubbles' Size and Pouring Sounds' Pitch in Carbonated Beverages

Visual and auditory carbonation have been separately documented as being two sensory markers of perceived freshness in beverages. The aim of the present study is to investigate the cross-modal interactions between these two dimensions of carbonation. Three experiments focused on crossmodal correspondences between bubble size and pouring sound pitch, which have never been investigated with ecological stimuli. Experiment 1, using an implicit association test (IAT), showed a crossmodal correspondence between bubble size and pouring sound pitch. Experiment 2 confirmed this pitch-size correspondence effect by means of a Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT). Experiment 3 investigated the mutual dependence between pitch, size, and spatial elevation as well as the influence of attentional factors. No dependence was found, however pitch-size correspondences were obtained only in the condition requiring attentional processes, suggesting that these effects might be driven by top-down influences. These results highlight the robustness of the pitch-size crossmodal correspondence across stimulus contexts varying in complexity. Thus, this correspondence might be fruitfully used to modulate consumers' perceptions and expectations about carbonated beverages.

Can taste be ergogenic?

Taste is a homeostatic function that conveys valuable information, such as energy density, readiness to eat, or toxicity of foodstuffs. Taste is not limited to the oral cavity but affects multiple physiological systems. In this review, we outline the ergogenic potential of substances that impart bitter, sweet, hot and cold tastes administered prior to and during exercise performance and whether the ergogenic benefits of taste are attributable to the placebo effect. Carbohydrate mouth rinsing seemingly improves endurance performance, along with a potentially ergogenic effect of oral exposure to both bitter tastants and caffeine although subsequent ingestion of bitter mouth rinses is likely required to enhance performance. Hot and cold tastes may prove beneficial in circumstances where athletes' thermal state may be challenged. Efficacy is not limited to taste, but extends to the stimulation of targeted receptors in the oral cavity and throughout the digestive tract, relaying signals pertaining to energy availability and temperature to appropriate neural centres. Dose, frequency and timing of tastant application likely require personalisation to be most effective, and can be enhanced or confounded by factors that relate to the placebo effect, highlighting taste as a critical factor in designing and administering applied sports science interventions.

What is lost in translation: A cross-cultural study to compare the concept of nuttiness and its perception in soymilk among Korean, Chinese, and Western groups

Cross-cultural communication of "nuttiness" can be problematic because the underlying conceptual elements and words used to describe its features may be largely culture-dependent. The present study was conducted to understand similarities and dissimilarities in the concept of nuttiness and its actual perception in our model food system, soymilk, among similar (Korean and Chinese) and dissimilar (Western) food cultures. In total, 110 Koreans, 103 Chinese, and 93 English-speaking, Western consumers were recruited. Subjects were asked to provide a definition of nuttiness and generate examples of nutty and non-nutty foods. They also rated the intensity of the nuttiness of 8 soymilk samples. Sensory profiles of 8 soymilk samples were obtained using 9 trained panelists. Data from the definition task were processed through textual analysis. To identify sensory drivers, consumer ratings of perceived nuttiness intensity in soymilk were projected onto a sensory space constructed from the descriptive profiles of nuttiness. We found significant association between culture and usage of specific words (χ²_{70, 0.05}=155.8, p<0.001). For example, whereas the concept of nuttiness in the Korean group involved sensory experiences evoked by sesame, roasted, proteic, or fatty foods, in Westerners, it was more nut-oriented. In contrast, the Chinese group associated nuttiness with general characteristics and hedonic dimensions such as good and comfort, rather than with specific foods. However, sensory drivers of nuttiness in soymilk were consistent across cultures. We found that although the abstract definition of nuttiness clearly demonstrated cross-cultural differences, sensory perception of nuttiness was almost identical across all groups. This suggests that cultural background influences verbalization of one's perception, but not the actual perception itself.

Understanding Freshness Perception from the Cognitive Mechanisms of Flavor: The Case of Beverages

Freshness perception has received recent consideration in the field of consumer science mainly because of its hedonic dimension, which is assumed to influence consumers' preference and behavior. However, most studies have considered freshness as a multisensory attribute of food and beverage products without investigating the cognitive mechanisms at hand. In the present review, we endorse a slightly different perspective on freshness. We focus on (i) the multisensory integration processes that underpin freshness perception, and (ii) the top-down factors that influence the explicit attribution of freshness to a product by consumers. To do so, we exploit the recent literature on the cognitive underpinnings of flavor perception as a heuristic to better characterize the mechanisms of freshness perception in the particular case of beverages. We argue that the lack of consideration of particular instances of flavor, such as freshness, has resulted in a lack of consensus about the content and structure of different types of flavor representations. We then enrich these theoretical analyses, with a review of the cognitive mechanisms of flavor perception: from multisensory integration processes to the influence of top-down factors (e.g., attentional and semantic). We conclude that similarly to flavor, freshness perception is characterized by hybrid content, both perceptual and semantic, but that freshness has a higher-degree of specificity than flavor. In particular, contrary to flavor, freshness is characterized by specific functions (e.g., alleviation of oropharyngeal symptoms) and likely differs from flavor with respect to the weighting of each sensory contributor, as well as to its subjective location. Finally, we provide a comprehensive model of the cognitive mechanisms that underlie freshness perception. This model paves the way for further empirical research on particular instances of flavor, and will enable advances in the field of food and beverage cognition.

Trained and consumer panel evaluation of sparkling wines sweetened to brut or demi sec residual sugar levels with three different sugars

The dosage liquid, added at the final stage of sparkling wine production, imparts residual sweetness to the wine. No study has yet analyzed the influence of dosage composition on the final wine's sensory profile or consumer acceptance. In this study, dosage composition was altered through the addition of different sugar types (ST; fructose, glucose, or sucrose) to produce seven sparkling wines of varying residual sugar levels (RSL), including no sugar added, brut (5.3-8.4gST/L) or demi sec (34.9-37.8gST/L). As evaluated by a trained panel (n=9), the interaction between ST and RSL influenced the perception of caramelized/vanilla/honey (CVH) flavor, sweet taste, and sour taste attributes (p<0.05). Demi sec wines displayed lower intensities of green flavor, yeasty flavor, and sour taste compared to the no sugar added wine (p<0.05). Consumers (n=126) also evaluated the sparkling wines and ST, RSL, and their interaction influenced consumer acceptance of different attributes, as well as the perception of the "refreshing" aspect of the wine (p<0.05). Overall consumer acceptance of sparkling wines was highly correlated (r²≤0.88) to CVH, floral, and fruity flavors, as well as sweet taste and creamy mouthfeel. External preference mapping revealed two clusters of consumers. Both consumer clusters liked wines sweetened with fructose, but Cluster 1 liked the demi sec sparkling wine sweetened with fructose (32.8g/L fructose) while Cluster 2 preferred the brut wine sweetened with fructose (8.4g/L fructose). These results suggest that consumer preference for sparkling wine was segmented based on sweetness preference. The results of this study offer winemakers knowledge about the influence of dosage composition on the sensory profile of sparkling wine.