Evaluating the impact of safflower oil concentration and fatty acid composition on consumer acceptance of soy pretzels

Agriculture/Ecological/Environmental Science (The Ohio State University Denman Undergraduate Research Forum)Epidemiological and behavioral studies suggest that the increase in snack consumption is strongly associated with the rise in obesity. A nutritious functional snack containing ingredients such as soy and linoleic acid which enhance satiety and lipid metabolism may be one strategy to alleviate obesity. However, designing a functional snack food containing substantial quantities of both of these ingredients is anticipated to compromise the pretzel quality; hence, have a detrimental impact on consumer acceptance. The impact of lipid incorporation, greater than 5%, into a pretzel snack on consumer acceptance largely has not been investigated. To this end, we hypothesized consumer acceptance would not be significantly different in soy pretzels containing high-linoleic compared to those with high-oleic safflower oil, which is favored in industry because of its shelf-stability. However, soy pretzels at 30% safflower oil, independent of fatty acid composition would be more acceptable than those at 10%. Two objectives of these investigations were to characterize the organoleptic attributes of high-linoleic and high-oleic safflower oil soy pretzels and to evaluate consumer acceptance at the various percentages of oil content (5, 10, 20, and 30%) in soy pretzels. Two sensory evaluations were conducted. This sensory involved study involving 75 participants and both utilized a 9-point Hedonic scale (1=extremely dislike, 9=extremely like) for acceptability, descriptive analysis, and difference test. Fatty acid concentration had a significant effect on consumer acceptance in the high linoleic soy pretzels (p<0.05) but not the oleic pretzels. The fatty acid composition did have an effect on consumer acceptance resulting in higher acceptance scores for the high linoleic soy pretzels. In conclusion soy pretzel containing high-linoleic acid safflower oil would be feasible for future clinical trials investigating obesity.Academic Major: Food Science and Technolog

Recent smell loss is the best predictor of COVID-19 among individuals with recent respiratory symptoms

In a preregistered, cross-sectional study we investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19 using a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory illness. We quantified changes in chemosensory abilities during the course of the respiratory illness using 0-100 visual analog scales (VAS) for participants reporting a positive (C19+; n=4148) or negative (C19-; n=546) COVID-19 laboratory test outcome. Logistic regression models identified univariate and multivariate predictors of COVID-19 status and post-COVID-19 olfactory recovery. Both C19+ and C19- groups exhibited smell loss, but it was significantly larger in C19+ participants (mean±SD, C19+: -82.5±27.2 points; C19-: -59.8±37.7). Smell loss during illness was the best predictor of COVID-19 in both univariate and multivariate models (ROC AUC=0.72). Additional variables provide negligible model improvement. VAS ratings of smell loss were more predictive than binary chemosensory yes/no-questions or other cardinal symptoms (e.g., fever). Olfactory recovery within 40 days of respiratory symptom onset was reported for ~50% of participants and was best predicted by time since respiratory symptom onset. We find that quantified smell loss is the best predictor of COVID-19 amongst those with symptoms of respiratory illness. To aid clinicians and contact tracers in identifying individuals with a high likelihood of having COVID-19, we propose a novel 0-10 scale to screen for recent olfactory loss, the ODoR-19. We find that numeric ratings ≤2 indicate high odds of symptomatic COVID-19 (4&lt;10). Once independently validated, this tool could be deployed when viral lab tests are impractical or unavailable

Different olfactory percepts evoked by orthonasal and retronasal odorant delivery

Poster Division: Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: 1st Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)A five-year embargo was granted for this item