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PubMed2006

Plant volatile compounds: sensory cues for health and nutritional value?

Plants produce many volatile metabolites. A small subset of these compounds is sensed by animals and humans, and the volatile profiles are defining elements of the distinct flavors of individual foods. Flavor volatiles are derived from an array of nutrients, including amino acids, fatty acids, and carotenoids. In tomato, almost all of the important flavor-related volatiles are derived from essential nutrients. The predominance of volatiles derived from essential nutrients and health-promoting compounds suggests that these volatiles provide important information about the nutritional makeup of foods. Evidence supporting a relation between volatile perception and nutrient or health value will be reviewed.

Amino Acids, Essential↗
PubMed1988

Sensory assessment of fat content in fluid dairy products.

It is unclear what stimulus properties and sensory systems contribute to the discrimination of fat content in foods. Fluid dairy products containing 0.5 to 36% fat were rated on category scales for "fat content", "creaminess", and "pleasantness" under various conditions. In the first experiment, perceived fat content of the stimuli was not changed from normal conditions when visual and olfactory inputs were removed. In a second experiment, the stimuli were altered by the addition of a textural agent, such that their viscosities were all approximately equivalent. Elimination of olfactory input again had no effect on ratings of "fat content". Addition of a textural agent greatly enhanced the apparent "fat content" of the lower fat samples, though it did not fully compensate for the perceived differences amongst the stimuli. These experiments strongly support the concept that perceptions of "fat content" in these products is largely attributable to textural properties, such as viscosity, sensed within the oral cavity.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Combined behavioral and c-Fos studies elucidate the vital role of sodium for odor detection.

Salt, known as taste quality, is generally neglected in olfaction, although the olfactory sensory neurons stretch into the salty nasal mucus covering the olfactory epithelium (OE). Using a psychophysical approach, we directly and functionally demonstrate in the awake rat for a variety of structurally diverse odorants that sodium is a critical factor for olfactory perception and sensitivity, both very important components of mammalian communication and sexual behavior. Bathing the olfactory mucus with an iso-osmotic sodium-free buffer solution results in severe deficits in odorant detection. However, sensitivity returns fully within a few hours, indicating continuous mucus production. In the presence of sodium in the mucus covering the OE, all odorants induce odorant-specific c-Fos expression in the olfactory bulb. Yet, if sodium is absent in the mucus, no c-Fos expression is induced as demonstrated for n-octanal. Our noninvasive approach to induce anosmia in mammals here presented--which is fully reversible within hours--opens new possibilities to study the functions of olfactory communication in awake animals.

Acetates↗
PubMed1982

Amino acids as taste stimuli. I. Neural and behavioral attributes.

The physiological importance of L-amino acids implies that the gustatory system should be sensitive to their presence in the environment. This notion is reinforced by research showing that rats are able to self-regulate their dietary consumption of amino acids and other important nutrients. This paper describes two studies which begin a systematic evaluation of the neural and behavioral effects of L-amino acids on gustation in the rat. The first experiment defined the neural thresholds, intensity-response functions and time courses of whole chorda tympani nerve responses to 12 stimuli. Thresholds varied from 10(-4) M (arginine) to 8 X 10(-2) M (proline), with pH-related amino acids being low and those reported by humans to be sweet being high. Maximum neural effectiveness, relative to the resting level of neural activity, ranged from 108% (2.0 M lysine-hydrochloride) to 8% (0.1 M leucine), with pH-related stimuli evoking the greatest activity. Neural time courses were varied, and often did not include well-defined phasic and tonic components. The second experiment measured the rat's preferences in 24-h two-bottle tests. Preference thresholds were typically lower than neural thresholds, presumably due to extra-chorda tympani input involved in the perception of flavor. They ranged from 2 X 10(-6) M (methionine) to 6 X 10(-2) m (leucine) and were in good agreement with psychophysically defined humar thresholds. Seven stimuli were preferred at low concentrations, but only two (alanine, leucine) continued to be appetitive as intensity increased. Preferences were predictable for 10 of the 12 stimuli from psychophysical reports. Rats also rejected amino acids in direct proportion to their toxicity, demonstrating the protective function of the taste-hedonic system.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed2004

S100B-modulated Ca2+-dependent ROS-GC1 transduction machinery in the gustatory epithelium: a new mechanism in gustatory transduction.

Gustatory transduction is a biochemical process by which the gustatory signal generates the electric signal. The microvilli of the taste cells in the gustatory epithelium are the sites of gustatory transduction. This study documents the biochemical, molecular, and functional identity of the Ca2+-modulated membrane guanylate cyclase transduction machinery in the bovine gustatory epithelium. The machinery is a two-component system: the Ca2+-sensor protein, S100B; and the transducer, ROS-GC1. S100B senses increments in free Ca2+, undergoes conformational change, binds to the domain amino acids (aa) Gly962-Asn981 and via the transduction domain aa Ile1030-Gln1041 activates ROS-GC1, generating the second messenger, cyclic GMP. In a recent study, operational presence of this machinery has been demonstrated in the photoreceptor bipolar synapse [Duda et al., EMBO J. 21 (2002) 2547]. Thus, the machinery has a broader role in sensory perceptions, vision in the retinal neurons and gustation in the tongue. The entry of the ROS-GC transduction machinery defines the beginning of a new paradigm of Ca2+ signaling in the tongue.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Factors influencing food choices, dietary intake, and nutrition-related attitudes among African Americans: application of a culturally sensitive model.

OBJECTIVES: The goals of the project were: (1) to explore how culture and community impact on the nutrition attitudes, food choices, and dietary intake of a selected group of African Americans in north central Florida; and (2) to identify segments of the population and community that should be targeted for education programs, desirable components of nutrition education programs, topics of interest, and health promotion channels to reach the target group. DESIGN: Six focus groups were conducted with African American males and females. The data were analyzed using the PEN-3 model, a theoretical model that centralizes culture as the primary reason for health behavior and the primary consideration for health promotion and diseases prevention programs. RESULTS: There was a general perception that 'eating healthfully' meant giving up part of their cultural heritage and trying to conform to the dominant culture. Friends and relatives usually are not supportive of dietary changes. Barriers to eating a healthful diet also included no sense of urgency, the social and cultural symbolism of certain foods, the poor taste of 'healthy' foods, the expense of 'healthy' foods, and lack of information. Segments of the population that potentially could be motivated to make dietary changes included women, men with health problems, young adults, the elderly, and those diagnosed with a severe, life-threatening disease. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the PEN-3 model is an appropriate framework for assessing how community and culture impact dietary habits of African Americans. African Americans will need information on basic nutrition topics such as serving sizes and reading food labels. The findings also suggest that programs and materials should be specifically developed for churches, neighborhood grocery stores, and local restaurants.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Do you like the sight or the feel of milk in coffee? Ecology and effortful attention in differential acuity and preference for sensed effects of milk substitute in vended coffee.

A rapid method of discrimination scaling was used to measure individuals' acuity for levels of a complex stimulus perceived through several sensory modalities at once in a familiar context. The stimulus was a replacement for fresh milk used in vended coffee. The two experiments reported here compared the performance of ratings of the coffee's milkiness and creaminess when assessors were limited to the use of visual and/or olfactory cues. Better discrimination by milkiness ratings was observed during normal drinking and in a visual-only condition than when only oronasal or oral cues were available. Ratings relative to each assessor's ideal level of milkiness or creaminess showed diversity between assessor-preferred visual and oral characteristics of the milk substitute. However, instructing the assessor to attend to a particular aspect of the sample did not prevent the use of a better-discriminated characteristic if available to the senses. These results showed that the acceptability of a beverage or food depends more on the perceptible material than on efforts to direct attention to particular aspects.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Flavour retention and release from protein solutions.

This paper briefly presents the main results obtained up to now on protein-flavour binding and release in relation with flavour perception. Among the food proteins, beta-lactoglobulin is the most extensively studied for its binding properties, which involve both hydrophobic and hydrogen binding. Recent developments using molecular modelling and Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship confirmed the existence of two different binding sites for flavour compounds on beta-lactoglobulin. During the aroma release process in the mouth, not only free aroma compounds are released but also those reversibly bound by the protein, pointing out the fact that flavour perception is only affected if strong binding occurs.

Benzaldehydes↗
PubMed1997

The efficacy of a university drug education course on factors that influence alcohol use.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the impact that a Drug Education course has on motives, consequences, attitudes, and perceptions regarding alcohol use in a sample of university students, and to discern if these parameters alter substance usage. There were a total of 121 respondents (32 male, 94 female). Following the course, students reported a slight elevation in the motivation to drink alcohol to facilitate studying. However, drinking because they enjoyed the taste, drinking to get drunk, and drinking to celebrate special occasions decreased significantly following the course. No significant differences were noted in patterns of drinking consequences or selected attitudes toward alcohol use. Students did, however, perceive alcohol to be a more dangerous substance in the post-test. No gender differences were observed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Sweetness potency of saccharin and cyclamate in hot drinks].

The sweetness potency of sweeteners depends on temperature. At 50 degrees C the 2.4-fold concentration of saccharin and the 1.3-fold of cyclamate respectively is needed to produce the same sweetness (as related to sucrose) as in solutions at 20 degrees C. As well as in water the sweetening power decreases in chinese tea with increasing temperature. Only in case of cyclamate solutions of high sweetness this effect is diminished. In the mathematical description of the relation between stimulus and perception the decrease of the relative sweetness observed can be expressed by a comformable decrease of the concentration coefficient. The effect of temperature on the perception of sweetness can be explained by the Arrhenius' conception. The critical increments are 23 kJ/mol for saccharin and 8 kJ/mol for both cyclamate and fructose.

Cyclamates↗
PubMed1993

Memory impairments following lesions to the mammillary region of the rat.

The contribution of the mammillary region to learning and memory was investigated. It was demonstrated that lesions of this region impair performance on tasks that require memory for spatial information but that the deficit depends both on the amount of damage within the region and the difficulty of the task. A dissociation in the effect of such lesions on performance of comparable spatial and non-spatial memory tasks was shown. In contrast to the deficits observed on spatial memory tasks, the acquisition and retention of a complex non-spatial memory task was not impaired after extensive damage to the mammillary region. Such lesions also did not impair performance in a conditioned taste aversion task. These experiments suggest that the mammillary region may be selectively involved in spatial learning and memory.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Distortion of olfactory perception: diagnosis and treatment.

Clinically, olfaction can fail in any of three ways: (i) decreased sensitivity (hyposmia, anosmia) and two types of distortion (dysosmia); (ii) distorted quality of an odorant stimulation (troposmia); (iii) perceived odor when no odorant is present (phantosmia, hallucination). The distortions are usually much more upsetting to a person's quality of life than a simple loss. An ipsilatersal loss of olfactory sensitivity is often identified in the nostril with any type of olfactory distortion. The pathophysiology of a stimulated distortion (troposmia) is likely a decreased number of functioning olfactory primary neurons so that an incomplete characterization of the odorant is made. In phantosmia, two possible causations include an abnormal signal or inhibition from the primary olfactory neurons or peripheral olfactory or trigeminal signals that "trigger" a central process. The clinician's goal is to carefully define the problem (e.g. taste versus smell, real versus perceived, one versus two nostrils), to perform the appropriate examination and testing and to provide therapy if possible. Treatment includes assurance with no active therapy (because many of these will naturally resolve), topical medications, systemic medications, anesthesia to parts of the nose and, rarely, referral for surgical excision of olfactory neurons. Endoscopic transnasal operations have the advantage of treating phantosmia and sometimes allowing a return of olfactory ability after the operation.

Humans↗
PubMed2000

Flavor release from salad dressings: sensory and physicochemical approaches in relation with the structure.

The effect of process and formulation on sensory perception and flavor release was investigated on salad dressing models. Oil/vinegar emulsions (phi = 0.5, droplet size > 10 microm) with thickeners and a whey protein concentrate were prepared with different fat droplet sizes and different distributions of fat droplet size. The effect of the amount of emulsifier was also tested. Sensory profile analysis was performed by a trained panel and flavor release quantified by dynamic headspace analysis. When the droplet size is increased, the lemon smell and citrus aroma significantly increase, whereas the egg note, mustard, and butter aroma significantly decrease. The concentrations of alcohols and acids significantly increase when droplet size increases, whereas those of other compounds such as limonene or benzaldehyde significantly decrease. The dispersion of the droplet size has a small effect on flavor perception, and the effect of the increase of the amount of emulsifier is noticed only by instrumental analysis.

Dietary Fats↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The molecular biology of brain and mind development.

The recent dramatic development of molecular neurobiology has focused almost entirely on biological events in individual brain cells, and it seems that many of the goals of such work will soon be attained. Yet, when we attain those goals, we will still have to ask how this information will enable us to understand the properties of brain cell collectivities and their presumptive roles in higher brain functions. Even general ideas about those functions are not yet well defined. Therefore, it seems worthwhile to start studying correlations of the molecular events to these higher functions to help delineate the molecular aspects that need study. It is readily appreciated that we cannot tell what other animal species see, hear, taste, smell and feel when touching something, though we can foresee the time when we will be able to detail the biochemical and biophysical consequences of all inputs to those senses. Thus, however deep our understanding of the biology of those species, we are unable to establish relations between their biological responses to inputs and their presumptive mental perceptions. Even though humans can use language to talk about those perceptions, we cannot even verify whether someone else's perceptions are the same as our own, as with the old question of whether two individuals see the same thing when viewing something blue. Questions about still higher mental functions of human brains are even less accessible to analysis and can be approached at best, by using correlations. In this article are a number of such questions and their current correlation-level answers.

Aging↗
PubMed2003

Vanilloid receptor expression in the rat tongue and palate.

Capsaicin, the pungent substance in hot peppers, evokes a sensation of burning pain by stimulating the vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1) on primary afferent neurons. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the taste papillae in the tongue and palate are richly innervated by VR1-immunoreactive nerve fibers. Furthermore, VR1 protein expression was seen in the epithelium facing the oral cavity, although taste cells seemed to be devoid of VR1. The most conspicuous VR1 expression was observed in the epithelial cells of the palatal rugae, although there were no VR1-immunoreactive nerves there. The finding that VR1 is expressed not only in primary afferents but also in oral epithelial cells suggests that it is of great importance in the perception of capsaicin, heat, and acid in the mouth. Since VR1 is known to play a key role in nociception and inflammatory pain, it may be a new target for the treatment of oral pain.

Animals↗