Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “taste perception”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,333 records · Page 74Linked to original sources

Family influences on food choice: context of surviving breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To explore women's perceptions of family influences on food decision-making in the context of having had breast cancer or not having had breast cancer. DESIGN: Individual interviews exploring women's perceptions of their eating habits, health status, and diet, health, and breast cancer beliefs. SETTING: In Vancouver, a large, multicultural, Canadian city, interviews were held in women's homes or offices or at the university. PARTICIPANTS: A culturally diverse convenience sample of women aged 40 to 60 years, including breast cancer survivors (n=29) and women who had not had breast cancer (n=32). ANALYSIS: Verbatim interview transcripts were coded by one of the authors, and themes were developed by sorting and summarizing transcript segments. RESULTS: Women who had not had breast cancer believed that they were catering to family preferences, even at the expense of their own health. In particular, men's "meat and potatoes" diet proved to be a barrier to dietary change. Breast cancer survivors experienced family members more as supporting than resisting healthful eating. Believing that the diagnosis had shifted their priorities, some women made healthful dietary changes regardless of family response. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Women experience family influence as significant in food decision-making. An illness diagnosis may alter women's and their families' negotiations of competing values, such that healthful eating takes on greater priority than food preferences or maintaining social relations through catering to others' tastes. This may be an opportune time to help women introduce healthful eating.

Adult↗

Gender-related differences in IBS symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: Women are more likely than men to report irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms as well as chronic visceral and musculoskeletal pain. The study tests the general hypothesis that female IBS patients differ from their male counterparts in symptoms related to the viscera and musculoskeletal system, and that these differences are related to the menstrual cycle. METHODS: Seven hundred fourteen Rome positive IBS patients were evaluated for GI and extracolonic symptoms, psychological symptoms (SCL-90R), and quality of life (QOL) (SF-36). In addition, 54 postmenopausal women were compared with 61 premenopausal women and 54 age-matched males, all with IBS. RESULTS: Male and female subjects reported similar GI levels of symptom severity and psychological problems. Abdominal distension associated with a sensation of bloating was more commonly reported by female patients, as were symptoms of constipation. Female patients more often reported nausea, alterations of taste and smell, and unpleasant sensations on the tongue, muscle stiffness in the morning, greater food sensitivity, and side effects from medications. Forty percent of female patients reported menstrual cycle-related worsening of symptoms, but few symptom differences were found between pre- and postmenopausal women, making it unlikely that most of the gender differences observed are directly tied to the menstrual cycle. CONCLUSIONS: Female patients report higher levels of a variety of intestinal and nonintestinal sensory symptoms despite similar levels of IBS severity, abdominal pain, psychological symptoms, and illness impact. The apparent differences in sensitivity to nonpainful visceral sensations, medications, and food may represent altered sensory processes, autonomic responses, and/or cognitive hypervigilance.

Abdominal Pain↗

Children's thinking about diversity of belief in the early school years: judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons.

Children's thinking about diversity of belief in 4 realms--morality, taste, facts, and ambiguous facts--was examined. Ninety-six participants (ages 5, 7, and 9) were interviewed about beliefs different from their own that were endorsed by characters with different status; their judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons were assessed. Five-year-olds made fewer relative and tolerant judgments than 7- and 9-year-olds. Nevertheless, participants of all ages organized their judgments according to the realm of diversity, thought that some beliefs are relative and some are nonrelative, and made tolerant judgments of some divergent beliefs (and their proponents) but not of others. The findings suggest that, in the early school years, children have multiple and well-differentiated perspectives on belief diversity.

Attitude↗

Effect of race on perception of fat alone and in combination with sugar.

Two studies were performed to assess the perception of sugar-fat combinations and fat emulsions in African-American and white subjects. In the first study, African-American children aged 9-15 years were found to prefer higher concentrations of sweetness in liquid dairy products varying in fat content than white children. No significant differences in preference for the four fat levels were found. These data are consistent with a previous study by Desor et al. (2) that suggested African-American youngsters aged 9-15 preferred greater sweetness in water solutions. In a second study, thresholds and preferences for corn oil and butterfat in emulsions were determined for young adults. No significant differences between African-American and white young adults were found.

Adolescent↗

Partitioning behavior of Alkan-1-ols between milkfat and aqueous phases as influenced by temperature.

Partitioning of volatile compounds between lipid and aqueous phases may influence flavor perception and availability to participate in flavor-generating reactions. The objective of this research was to characterize the partitioning of short-chain alkan-1-ols between milkfat and aqueous phases, as influenced by temperature, as compared to an octan-1-ol/water biphasic system (Log P). Temperature has a positive, but nonlinear, influence on Log P values for alkan-1-ols. There is an approximately 1 log decrease in Log P values of milkfat/water as compared to octan-1-ol/water systems; similar trends were observed across chain length. Temperature has a greater effect on alkan-1-ol partitioning in milkfat/water systems than octan-1-ol/water. The latter observation is primarily attributed to the solidification of milkfat at temperatures below 40 degrees C and the resulting reduction in liquid lipid solvent volume.

Alcohols↗

Enhancement of effectiveness of learning by testosterone in domestic chicks.

In young male domestic chicks, the presentation of a nonaversive colored bead to be pecked (pretraining) interfered with subsequent avoidance training, in which the bead presented tasted unpleasant, when two conditions were fulfilled: (a) Beads used at pretraining and training were of similar appearance, and (b) testosterone was injected either before or a little after pretraining. This effect of the hormone was not a consequence of changes in behavior at training or at test. It appeared to reflect changes during the consolidation of the pretraining memory trace which made it more effective in subsequent competition with training. Beads that are blue in color were unusual in evoking high levels of avoidance in naive chicks and, when used in pretraining in the presence of testosterone, in failing to oppose subsequent training on the blue bead. Such pretraining became effective when paired with avoidance training with a bead of different color, apparently by changing the information stored about pretraining.

Animals↗

["Nutrition beyond 65"--amount of usual drinking fluid and motivation to drink are interrelated in community-living, independent elderly people].

BACKGROUND: Elderly people are at increased risk of dehydration due to age-related changes in kidney function, thirst perception, body water content and homeostatic capacity. Special attitudes toward drinking may furthermore contribute to the problem. Surprisingly, little is known about usual fluid intake and the motivation to drink in community-living elderly people. Thus, the aim of the present study was the assessment of fluid intake from beverages and the motivation to drink in this population group. METHODS: From a random sample of 1200 elderly, stratified into three age-groups (65-74 y., 75-84 y., 85+ y.), 361 fulfilled the inclusion criteria (living independently in private households and mental ability to answer simple questions correctly) and took part in this cross-sectional study. Usual fluid intake of beverages and seven attitudes towards drinking were assessed in personal in-home interviews by standardized questionnaire. Drinking fluid was classified into 5 classes. The relation between drinking fluid and attitudes was checked by the chi(2) test. RESULTS: 14% of all participants (men 15%, women 14%; n.s.) reported usual drinking amounts below 1 l. This proportion was markedly higher in very-old elderly (85+ y. 27%) compared to younger participants (75-84 y. 15%, 65-74 y. 8%; p=0.001). Of all participants, 78% confirmed the statement "I am drinking because it is healthy", while 57% agreed to the statement "I am drinking because it tastes good." Subjects who stated that they pay attention to sufficient drinking amounts (63%) only rarely drank less than 1 l (7%; p<0.001). In contrast, one quarter to one third of subjects who only drink when they are thirsty (54%), who stated to drink little because of lacking thirst (30%) or to reduce the amount of drinking fluid in order to avoid micturition in general (9%) or during the night (12%) drank less than 1 l (all p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Every seventh subject aged 65 years or older and every fourth aged 85 years or older shows insufficient amounts of drinking fluid. The observed relations between usual fluid intake and attitudes towards drinking argue for the possibility to improve drinking behavior by selective educational measures.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Effect of peripheral anosmia in dogs trained as flavor validators.

The importance of olfaction in perception of flavor by flavor-validating dogs was studied. The flavor-validation technique is widely used by pet food manufacturers to determine if a given formula is perceived by dogs as having the flavor of a specific meat. Five Beagles were trained as flavor validators; 2 dogs were trained to select beef and 3 to select lamb from a panel of 4 meats. When the dogs had been trained to select the correct meat on 100% of the trials, they were made anosmic. Reversible peripheral anosmia was produced in the dogs by inflating a cuff on a surgically implanted tracheostomy tube. When the cuff was inflated, air entered the trachea via the tracheostomy tube, rather than via the nasal cavity, and the percentage of correct choices on the flavor-validating test fell to 62 +/- 14%. When the tracheostomy tubes were removed, performance returned to 100% correct. The nasal cavities of 3 dogs were infused with zinc sulfate to produce a more complete and longer-lasting anosmia. The percentage of correct choice on the flavor-validation test fell to 24 +/- 5%. These findings indicate that the flavor-validation test is based primarily on one sensory modality, that of olfaction; therefore, formulas selected by flavor-validating dogs may smell similar to the specific meat, but do not necessarily taste similar to that meat.

Administration, Intranasal↗

Differential neural responses evoked by orthonasal versus retronasal odorant perception in humans.

Odors perceived through the mouth (retronasally) as flavor are referred to the oral cavity, whereas odors perceived through the nose (orthonasally) are referred to the external world. We delivered vaporized odorants via the orthonasal and retronasal routes and measured brain response with fMRI. Comparison of retronasal versus orthonasal delivery produced preferential activity in the mouth area at the base of the central sulcus, possibly reflecting olfactory referral to the mouth, associated with retronasal olfaction. Routes of delivery produced differential activation in the insula/operculum, thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and caudolateral orbitofrontal cortex in orthonasal > retronasal and in the perigenual cingulate and medial orbitofrontal cortex in retronasal > orthonasal in response to chocolate, but not lavender, butanol, or farnesol, so that an interaction of route and odorant may be inferred. These findings demonstrate differential neural recruitment depending upon the route of odorant administration and suggest that its effect is influenced by whether an odorant represents a food.

Appetite↗

The effects of beverage carbonation on sensory responses and voluntary fluid intake following exercise.

The effects of carbonated beverages on sensory acceptability and voluntary fluid intake after exercise were examined. The level of carbonation in a 6% carbohydrate (CHO) electrolyte drink was systematically varied (0, 1.1, 2.3, and 3.0 volumes of CO2), and its impact was assessed in 52 adults following 30 min of exercise. The perception of carbonation intensity closely tracked the differences in physical carbonation levels presented, with all perceived intensities significantly different from each other (p < .01). Overall sensory acceptability, perceived thirst quenching, and perceived sweetness were significantly lower for 2.3-vol CO2 and 3.0-vol CO2 than for 0-vol CO2 and 1.1-vol CO2 (p < .01). Perceived throatburn was significantly higher for 2.3-vol CO2 and 3.0-vol CO2 than for 0-vol CO2 and 1.1-vol CO2 (p < .01). Total fluid intake for 0-vol CO2 and 1.1-vol CO2 was significantly higher than for 2.3-vol CO2 (p < .05), which was significantly higher than for 3.0-vol CO2 (p < .05). It was concluded that levels of carbonation equal to or in excess of 2.3-vol CO2 negatively impact drink acceptability and voluntary fluid intake.

Adult↗

Systemic toxic reactions to procaine penicillin G.

Systemic toxic were encountered in eight of 10,469 patients during or immediately following the intramuscular injection of 4,800,000 units of procaine penicillin G for the treatment of gonorrhea. Fear of imminent death, visual and auditory disturbances, violent combativeness, confusion, disorientation, and restlessness, disturbance in taste, cardiovascular changes, and grand mal seizures are the principal manifestations; these usually subside in two to 10 minutes spontaneously or after treatment. Symptoms and signs closely parallel systemic toxic reactions to local anesthetics. Pharmacokinetic analysis in dogs using 14C-procaine and 14C-procaine penicillin G showed rapid distribution of labeled drugs from plasma to cerebrospinal fluid for the intravenous as compared to the intramuscular route of administration. The animal studies were consistent with the hypothesis that the inadvertent intravenous administration of procaine penicillin G is responsible for the systemic toxic reactions. Plasma procainesterase (pseudocholinesterase) activity was assayed with an ultraviolet spectroscopic method. Substrates were procaine and procaine penicillin G. The plasma procainesterase activity of patients who had experienced systemic toxic reactions was significantly decreased as compared to that of controls, an observation not previously reported.

Adolescent↗

Australian sweet lupin flour addition reduces the glycaemic index of a white bread breakfast without affecting palatability in healthy human volunteers.

The addition of some legume ingredients to bread has been associated with effects on glycaemic, insulinaemic and satiety responses that may be beneficial in controlling type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity. However, the effect of Australian sweet lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) flour (ASLF) is unknown. This investigation examined the effect of adding ASLF to standard white bread on post-meal glycaemic, insulinaemic and satiety responses and palatability in healthy subjects. Using a randomised, single-blind, cross-over design, 11 subjects consumed one breakfast of ASLF bread and two of standard white bread > or =7 days apart after fasting overnight. Each breakfast also included margarine, jam, and tea with milk and contained 50 g available carbohydrate. On each test day, blood samples were taken after fasting, then several times over 2 hours post-prandially, and analysed for plasma glucose and serum insulin. Subjects rated breakfast palatability and perception of satiety, in the fasting state and over 3 hours post-prandially, after which food intake from an ad libitum buffet and for the rest of the day was recorded. Incremental areas under the curves for glucose, insulin and satiety, glycaemic index, insulinaemic index and satiety index were calculated. ASLF addition to the breakfast reduced its glycaemic index (mean +/-SEM; ASLF bread breakfast = 74.0 +/-9.6. Standard white bread breakfast = 100, P=0.022), raised its insulinaemic index (ASLF bread breakfast = 127.7 +/-12.0. Standard white bread breakfast = 100, P=0.046), but did not affect palatability, satiety or food intake. ASLF addition resulted in a palatable breakfast; however, the potential benefits of the lowered glycaemic index may be eclipsed by the increased insulinaemic index.

Adult↗

Nerve injury caused by mandibular block analgesia.

Fifty-four injection injuries in 52 patients were caused by mandibular block analgesia affecting the lingual nerve (n=42) and/or the inferior alveolar nerve (n=12). All patients were examined with a standardized test of neurosensory functions. The perception of the following stimuli was assessed: feather light touch, pinprick, sharp/dull discrimination, warm, cold, point location, brush stroke direction, 2-point discrimination and pain perception. Gustation was tested for recognition of sweet, salt, sour and bitter. Mandibular block analgesia causes lingual nerve injury more frequently than inferior alveolar nerve injury. All grades of loss of neurosensory and gustatory functions were found, and a range of persisting neurogenic malfunctions was reported. Subjective complaints and neurosensory function tests indicate that lingual nerve lesions are more incapacitating than inferior alveolar nerve lesions. Unlike most mechanical injuries after surgery, injection injuries were not followed by a course of spontaneous improvement of neurosensory and/or gustatory function. This may indicate neurotoxicity as a central aetiological factor. Fifty-four percent of the nerve injuries were associated with Articaine 4%, and a substantial increase in the number of injection injuries followed its introduction to the Danish market.

Adult↗

The effects of archistriatal lesions on one-trial passive avoidance learning in the chick.

The avian archistriatum, part of which may be homologous with the mammalian amygdala, has been implicated in fear and avoidance behaviour. There is also evidence to suggest its involvement in learning. One-trial passive avoidance learning (PAL) has been used extensively to study memory formation in the chick. Young chicks will peck spontaneously at a small, visually conspicuous bead. If the bead has been coated with an aversive substance, the chicks show a disgust response and learn in a single trial not to peck a similar bead on subsequent presentation. Successful acquisition of this one-trial PAL task involves the formation of a learned association between the bead and a noxious taste, followed by the expression of an avoidance response. In view of the possible involvement of the archistriatum in avoidance and learning behaviour, its role in one-trial PAL was investigated by ablation. Bilateral electrolytic lesions of the entire archistriatum prevented the acquisition of the one-trial PAL task. Neither bilateral lesions of the lateral cerebral area nor sham operation affected learning. The impairment of one-trial PAL caused by archistriatal lesions was not due to effects on the visual or motor components of pecking behaviour. The archistriatum could therefore be directly involved in memory formation. It could also be involved in the organization of avoidance behaviour associated with the task, or it could form part of a circuit linking two other forebrain regions previously implicated in one-trial PAL, the intermediate part of the medial hyperstriatum ventrale and the lobus parolfactorius.

Amygdala↗

The relation between saliva flow after different stimulations and the perception of flavor and texture attributes in custard desserts.

Salivary flow rates were measured at rest and after three types of stimulation; odor, Parafilm chewing, and citric acid. The highest flow rate was elicited by citric acid followed by Parafilm and odor, while the lowest flow rate was unstimulated. In order to investigate whether and how the amount of saliva a subject produces influences the sensory ratings, the four types of salivary flow rates were correlated with sensory ratings of three different types of vanilla custard dessert. No significant correlation could be found between any of the salivary flow rates and the sensory ratings. A subject with a larger saliva flow rate during eating did not rate the foods differently from a subject with less saliva flow. The same pattern was seen for all types of stimulation. This finding could indicate that subjects are used to their respective amounts of saliva to such a degree that the differences in sensory ratings between subjects cannot be explained by the interindividual difference in saliva flow rate.

Adult↗

Synaesthesia: the prevalence of atypical cross-modal experiences.

Sensory and cognitive mechanisms allow stimuli to be perceived with properties relating to sight, sound, touch, etc, and ensure, for example, that visual properties are perceived as visual experiences, rather than sounds, tastes, smells, etc. Theories of normal development can be informed by cases where this modularity breaks down, in a condition known as synaesthesia. Conventional wisdom has held that this occurs extremely rarely (0.05% of births) and affects women more than men. Here we present the first test of synaesthesia prevalence with sampling that does not rely on self-referral, and which uses objective tests to establish genuineness. We show that (a) the prevalence of synaesthesia is 88 times higher than previously assumed, (b) the most common variant is coloured days, (c) the most studied variant (grapheme-colour synaesthesia)--previously believed most common--is prevalent at 1%, and (d) there is no strong asymmetry in the distribution of synaesthesia across the sexes. Hence, we suggest that female biases reported earlier likely arose from (or were exaggerated by) sex differences in self-disclosure.

Adult↗

Vitamin E supplementation, cereal feed type and consumer sensory perceptions of poultry meat quality.

Lipid oxidation leads to meat spoilage and has been reported to cause adverse changes in the flavour and texture of poultry meat. Vitamin E has been found to be effective in delaying lipid oxidation. The aim of this study was to determine whether the vitamin E supplementation of chicken feed influences the consumers' perception of the quality of chicken meat under normal display and storage conditions. Untrained consumers (n 32) evaluated cooked breast meat from chickens (both corn fed and wheat fed) supplemented with 75,250 or 500 mg/kg vitamin E and after storage at 4 degrees C for 4 and 7 d. Factorial analysis found an interaction between vitamin E treatment and storage day upon the perceived juiciness (P=0.023) and tenderness (P=0.041) of the chicken meat. Perceptions of quality relative to vitamin E level were more evident on day 4 than day 7. When the two cereal types were compared, the time-related sub-group effects were observed only in meat from corn-fed chickens supplemented with either 75 or 250 mg/kg, which was perceived to be juicier (P=0.018) and more tender (P=0.020) than that supplemented at the 500 mg/kg level. These results imply that the two lower concentrations of vitamin E have some advantages over 500 mg/kg, but for optimal consumer acceptance of corn-fed chicken meat, we suggest that 250 mg/kg vitamin E should be added to corn-fed poultry feed. There was no evidence to suggest any advantages in changing the current amount of vitamin E (75 mg/kg) used to rear wheat-fed birds.

Adult↗

Unconscious priming eliminates automatic binding of colour and alphanumeric form in synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is an unusual perceptual phenomenon in which events in one sensory modality induce vivid sensations in another. Individuals may 'taste' shapes, 'hear' colours, or 'feel' sounds. Synaesthesia was first described over a century ago, but little is known about its underlying causes or its effects on cognition. Most reports have been anecdotal or have focused on isolated unusual cases. Here we report an investigation of 15 individuals with colour-graphemic synaesthesia, each of whom experiences idiosyncratic but highly consistent colours for letters and digits. Using a colour-form interference paradigm, we show that induced synaesthetic experiences cannot be consciously suppressed even when detrimental to task performance. In contrast, if letters and digits are presented briefly and masked, so that they are processed but unavailable for overt report, the synaesthesia is eliminated. These results show that synaesthetic experiences can be prevented despite substantial processing of the sensory stimuli that otherwise trigger them. We conclude that automatic binding of colour and alphanumeric form in synaesthesia arises after initial processes of letter and digit recognition are complete.

Adult↗