The concepts of food

Survival
Sensory Perception, Preference and
Hunger satisfaction
Food Choice
Absence of adverse effects on health

Health and maintenance

Promote better health

thus helping to reduce risk of disease

Medicine and food have a common origin

Adapted from: Patrick A. Morrissey, Conor M. Delahunty & Caroline A. Martin

Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College, Cork, Ireland

The food needs of consumers Factors influencing food choice and

Nutritional well-being essential at every stage of life
acceptability
Nutritional requirements change across the lifespan Genotype, physiology and age
Food preferences and food intake also change. Eating habits and past food experience
Malnutrition, manifest in under-eating, over-eating, or
insufficient nutrient intake, widespread among almost all age Cultural, social and economic demographics
groups, or life stages. Attitudes and beliefs
Increasing need for new functionally enhanced foods to Personality
complement existing diet
Health and nutritional status, etc.

Preference response to sensory characteristics

Role of the senses Age differences
Genetic differences
Health and fitness concerns
Protein Environmental concerns

Function as gatekeepers to our body Fat

Carbohydrate
SENSATION Welfare concerns
Convenience
Volatile compounds e.g. Odour, Texture Taste
Evaluate and distinguish the foods that are Functional ingredients Retrieval and encoding processes

acceptable for consumption from those that should Encoding process

Attention process

Integration process

be rejected BEHAVIOUR
Memory &
STIMULUS Knowledge
Like or
The senses have evolved to aid decision processes dislike?
Play an important role in food liking and intake Saliva
Temperature
Retrieval and encoding processes

Satiety
Subtle differences in taste and smell influence Chewing action
Enzyme activity Appetite Advertising
Packaging
Specific hungers
preferences
Physiological processes
Eating environment Appearance
Price
Age differences Past experiences
The decision on what is good to eat? is individual Genetic differences Aversions
Delahunty, 2003

1
 The consumers decision
When the entire product has been consumed, the
consumer will pass judgement:
The seed for repeat purchase will be planted
in memory
The product will be simply forgotten
The product will be actively avoided
Sensitivity to smell
The olfactory system is anatomically complete at birth
Newborns can smell and can discriminate between
different odours
Infants learn to develop preferences that are in
keeping with their peers
Older adults loose smell ability
They have higher absolute odour thresholds, less
ability to perceive differences between suprathreshold
odour intensity levels, and decreased ability to
identify odours
Sensitivity to taste
Innate taste preferences remain strong through-out
the lifetime, but may be modified by experience
In older age, taste sensitivity remains relatively
intact, although there may be problems with quality
identification
Thresholds for salt and bitter taste may increase,
whereas sweet and sour thresholds show little
change
Loss in ability to sense saltiness can create
problems in healthy hypertensive populations
Sensitivity to smell
The stimuli for smell are airborne compounds of volatile
substances
Odour stimulating compounds create perceptions endowed
with distinctive smells
The olfactory system responds to odour and aroma
The main contribution to the diversity of food flavour comes
from volatiles released during consumption
Sensitivity to taste
The process begins in the oral cavity
Receptors stimulated by contact with liquid
compounds
Newborn infants can discriminate between basic
tastes. They like sweet and dislike sour and bitter
They are indifferent to salty taste probably
insensitive
Preference for salt emerges at about 4 months
Chemical irritation perception
Chemesthesis is the term used to describe the
detection of chemical irritants
Detection takes place primarily in the eyes,
nose and mouth
Primary function of chemesthesis is to protect
the body from noxious chemical stimuli
This high influence sense is exploited
commercially
2
 Chemical irritation perception
Trigeminal sensations refer to the fizzy tingle from CO2,
burn from hot pepper, pungency from mustard, bite from
raw onions etc.
Many common odour and flavour compounds also have
trigeminal activity many odours can be detected
Trigeminal sensations contribute much to the sensory
balance and overall appeal of foods and beverages
Little evidence is available on ability to perceive
trigeminal stimulation at different ages
Texture perception and performance
Mouthfeel plays an essential part in the
perception of textural properties of food
Little information is available on changes
of texture perception in the mouth with
ageing
Physiological changes in the mouth
influence abilty to breakdown food
without difficulty or pain
The food needs of older consumers
Nutritional well-being is essential to achieve successful
ageing and ensure older adults independence and quality
of life
Sub-clinical intakes of energy, calcium, vitamin D,
vitamin B6, folate and zinc are common
Low energy intake is most prevalent, and this impairs an
individuals ability to meet requirements for essential
nutrients
Older consumers are encouraged to consume a
nutritionally balanced, nutrient dense diet containing a
variety of foods in moderation
Increasing need for new functionally enhanced foods to
complement existing diet
Texture perception and performance
Texture perceived by senses of sight, tough and
sound
Sensations of texture based on sensations
perceived when food is manipulated in the mouth
(bitten, chewed, swallowed)
Sense organs involved grouped as follows:
Those in superficial structures of mouth
Those around roots of teeth
Those in muscles and tendons
Memory
Memory is implicated in many forms and ways:
preferences, aversions, meal patterns, meal satisfaction
Implicit memory is the basis of unconcious expectations
Memory may be a bridge to the past and as such
determine the authenticity of the taste
Age related changes in memory can influence recall of
past experiences with food
Age related changes in memory can also influence
sensory discrimination capacity
The food needs of older consumers
Elderly consumers have reduced sensitivity to odour
and mouthfeel
Ageing alters saliva flow and composition
This affects ability to breakdown food, inhibits mixing,
retards flavour release and makes swallowing difficult
Older people loose interest in food and food related
activities
The motivation to seek variety in the diet may be
reduced
Leads to consumption of a monotonous diet, reduced
energy intake and deficiency in essential nutrients
3
 Technological challenges
The consumer demands many new products with
functional ingredients
The consumer demands products with reduced fat, salt
and sugar
Each change is a move away from traditional
technologies
Requires new technologies to mask off-flavour, to re-
introduce lost flavour, or to rebuild texture
The consumer will seek familiarity in sensory
properties and will not be satisfied with alternatives
The contribution of the senses to food
choice and intake
How does society, and the food industry, currently contribute to
incorrect dietary habits and dietary guidance strategy through a
lack of understanding of changing sensory function and its
significance in regulating optimum dietary intake?
Seek knowledge of how sensitivity and hedonic response
change across the lifespan
Determine relationships between these factors and eating
behaviour that can be exploited in age-appropriate new product
development
Restrict tastes that cause indulgence and promote tastes that
signal nutritive value

Sensory ability and age: Taste identification

Sensory ability and age
Masticatory function Oral Stereognosis

Sour Bitter

Texture preferences of older consumers

Effect of eating environment
Difficult textures for older consumers:
- Long chewing time - Hard
- Crunchy - Crispy
- Rough - Dry
- Sharp textures

Easy textures for the older consumers:

Pulpy, wet, smooth & slimy textures
Intake = 4894 613 (kJ) Intake = 4536 620 (kJ)
Liking and eating difficulties are not always correlated P <0.001***

4
 Factors influencing food choice (e.g. in EU)
Eat Healthy
Taste 28
45
7 Basic Tastes, Many Sensations
Habit 21
Weight 17
Price 14 Hedonic Tastes Taste Sensations
Partner Eats 14 Salty
Origin 11 Astringent
Sweet
Prescribed Diet 9 Electric taste
Convenience 8
Umami
Alkaline taste
Organic 8 Aversive Tastes
Additives 8 Alcohol taste
Bitter
Others Decide
Brand
4
Sour Orosensation (trigeminal)
3
Ease Handling 2 Energy Tastes Touch
Dont Know 1
Fatty acid taste Temperature
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Heat Taste Pain
Vanilloid receptor Pressure

What makes food taste good?

Directions for the future Directions for the future (contd.)

It is time to understand better the development of food The hedonics of taste are arguably malleable through
preferences with positive nutrition experience.
to exploit sensory properties to increase intake of foods Hedonic response to the tastes of beneficial foods, and
with high nutritive value that promote long term health and those that should be avoided, needs to be adjusted
well-being
Develop dietary strategies that take account of the Food habits are learned, but are also determined by
sensory properties of food genotype.
Unacceptable tastes not matching individual likes or food habits can be changed to enable nutritional well-being
expectations, may be an obstacle to compliance with a and improved health
recommended change in diet