Patterns of Sweet Taste Liking: A Pilot Study

卷:7

Asao, Keiko ; Miller, Jason ; Arcori, Leann ; Lumeng, Julie C. ; Han-Markey, Theresa ; Herman, William H.

关键词: taste;    sweet taste;    liking;    sucrose;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu7095336

学科分类：食品科学和技术

【 摘 要 】

Two distinct patterns of sweet taste liking have been described: one showing a peak liking response in the mid-range of sucrose concentrations and the other showing a monotonic liking response at progressively higher sucrose concentrations. Classification of these patterns has been somewhat arbitrary. In this report, we analyzed patterns of sweet taste liking in a pilot study with 26 adults including 14 women and 12 men, 32.6 +/- 14.5 years of age with body mass index 26.4 +/- 5.1 kg/m(2) (mean +/- SD). Sweet taste liking was measured for 10 levels of sucrose solutions (0.035 M to 1.346 M). Participants rated their liking of each solution using a visual analog scale with 0 indicating strongly disliking and 100 strongly liking. The cluster analysis demonstrated two distinct groups: 13 liked relatively low sucrose concentrations and liked high sucrose concentrations less, and 13 liked high sucrose concentrations greatly. If we use the 0.598 M sucrose solution alone and a cutoff liking score of 50, we can distinguish the two clusters with high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (100%). If validated in additional studies, this simple tool may help us to better understand eating behaviors and the impact of sweet taste liking on nutrition-related disorders.