Taste Sensitivity Is Associated with Food Consumption Behavior but not with Recalled Pleasantness

As taste perception varies between individuals, it might be important in explaining food consumption behavior. Previous studies have focused on sensitivity to the bitter tastant PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) concerning eating with little attention paid to other tastants. For the first time, connections between food consumption behavior, pleasantness, and taste sensitivity are studied with five taste modalities. Sensitivity to bitterness, sourness, umami, saltiness, and sweetness as well as an overall taste sensitivity score was determined with intensity evaluation for 199 Finnish adults. Recalled pleasantness and food consumption behavior were enquired with online questionnaires. Consumption concerned intake of vegetables, fruits, and berries; use-frequency of specific foods; and tendency to mask or modify tastes of foods. All modality-specific taste sensitivities were related to some consumption behavior but none to recalled pleasantness. A higher taste sensitivity score indicated avoidance of coffee, lower consumption of pungent foods, and a more frequent habit of adding ketchup to a meal. In conclusion, it may be more informative to study the influence of taste sensitivity on food consumption behavior with taste modalities separately rather than with a general indicator of taste sensitivity. Additionally, these results highlight the importance of studying actual behavior toward food and not just liking

Food Consumption and Emotions at a Salad Lunch Buffet in a Multisensory Environment

The food experience is multisensory and multisensory external stimuli may affect food choice and emotions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a multisensory eating environment on food choice, intake and the emotional states of the subjects in a salad lunch buffet setting. A total of 30 female subjects consumed a salad lunch twice in the multisensory laboratory. The two test conditions (control and multisensory condition with environmental stimuli) were randomized and the visits were scheduled one week apart. Subjects selected and ate a meal from a salad buffet including 14 food items and the intake of each item was weighed. They answered an online questionnaire about the meal and their emotional states (20 different emotion terms) after the lunch. There was no significant difference in the food consumption between the control and multisensory conditions. The subjects were very satisfied with their lunch for both study visits but the pleasantness of the eating environment was rated higher under the multisensory condition. In emotional terms, the subjects selected the term "happy" significantly more frequently under the multisensory condition compared with the control. In conclusion, the multisensory eating environment in this study was not related to food intake but may be associated with positive emotions. The effect of the eating environment on food choice and experience deserves further study with a larger study population in a real lunch restaurant setting

Effect of salt reduction on consumer acceptance and sensory quality of food

Reducing salt (NaCl) intake is an important public health target. The food industry and catering services are searching for means to reduce the salt content in their products. This review focuses on options for salt reduction in foods and the sensory evaluation of salt-reduced foods. Simple salt reduction, mineral salts and flavor enhancers/modifiers (e.g., umami compounds) are common options for salt reduction. In addition, the modification of food texture and odor-taste interactions may contribute to enhanced salty taste perception. Maintaining consumer acceptance of the products is a challenge, and recent examples of the consumer perception of salt-reduced foods are presented.</p

Trend in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children in context of social inequality: three cross-sectional surveys 2002, 2006 and 2010

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intermittent monitoring of food intake at the population level is essential for the planning and evaluation of national dietary intervention programs. Social-economic changes in Lithuania have likely affected dietary habits, but only a limited number of temporal studies on food intake trends among young population groups have been published. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children from 2002 to 2010, and to explore the association of these changes with the respondents' reported socio-economic status (SES).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used Lithuanian data from the cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study collected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Analyses were conducted on comparable questionnaire-based data from children aged 11, 13 and 15 (total n = 17,189) from a random sample of schools. A food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate frequencies of food consumption. Logistic regression was used to examine the affects of changing social variables on reported diet trends.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In Lithuania, school-aged children have low intakes of fruits and vegetables. Only 21.1% of boys and 27.1% of girls reported daily fruit consumption. Similarly, 24.9% of boys and 29.6% of girls disclosed vegetable intake at least once daily. Comparing 2010 to 2002, the proportion of girls who consumed fruits daily increased from 24.2% to 31.0% (p < 0.001) but the proportion of boys who consumed vegetables daily decreased from 29.3% to 23.1% (p < 0.001). In 2006, for both sexes, there were observed increases in regular (at least five days a week) intake of sweets and chocolates, biscuits and pastries, and soft drinks; however, in the next survey (2010) these figures decreased. In addition, between 2006 and 2010, a substantial decrease in regular consumption of chips and fast food was also detected. Fruit and vegetable consumption as well as intake of sweets and chocolates, biscuits and pastries and soft drinks increased with family social-economic status and family material wealth. Trends in consumption of fruits, and other foods, and their association with changing social variables were demonstrated using the ORs estimated by three logistic models, using 2002 as the reference point. Changes in social variables from 2002 to 2010 affected the likelihood of daily consumption of fruits among boys by 22.5% (the corresponding OR decreased from 1.11 to 0.86) and among girls by 34.0% (the corresponding OR decreased from 1.41 to 1.12). Over the study period, changing social variables had little impact on the daily consumption of vegetables and other foods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the food consumption trends observed in Lithuania, increases in consumption of fruits and vegetables should be promoted, along with a reduction in the intake of less healthy choices, such as soft drinks and high-fat, high-sugar snack foods, by diminishing social inequalities in food consumption.</p

A systematic review of methods for increasing vegetable consumption in early childhood

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This study aims to synthesise the body of research investigating methods for increasing vegetable consumption in 2- to 5-year-old children, while offering advice for practitioners. RECENT FINDINGS: Repeated exposure is a well-supported method for increasing vegetable consumption in early childhood and may be enhanced with the inclusion of non-food rewards to incentivise tasting. Peer models appear particularly effective for increasing 2-5-year-olds' vegetable consumption. There is little evidence for the effectiveness of food adaptations (e.g. flavour-nutrient learning) for increasing general vegetable intake among this age group, although they show some promise with bitter vegetables. SUMMARY: This review suggests that practitioners may want to focus their advice to parents around strategies such as repeated exposure, as well as the potential benefits of modelling and incentivising tasting with non-food rewards. Intervention duration varies greatly, and considerations need to be made for how this impacts on success

Diet and asthma: looking back, moving forward

Asthma is an increasing global health burden, especially in the western world. Public health interventions are sought to lessen its prevalence or severity, and diet and nutrition have been identified as potential factors. With rapid changes in diet being one of the hallmarks of westernization, nutrition may play a key role in affecting the complex genetics and developmental pathophysiology of asthma. The present review investigates hypotheses about hygiene, antioxidants, lipids and other nutrients, food types and dietary patterns, breastfeeding, probiotics and intestinal microbiota, vitamin D, maternal diet, and genetics. Early hypotheses analyzed population level trends and focused on major dietary factors such as antioxidants and lipids. More recently, larger dietary patterns beyond individual nutrients have been investigated such as obesity, fast foods, and the Mediterranean diet. Despite some promising hypotheses and findings, there has been no conclusive evidence about the role of specific nutrients, food types, or dietary patterns past early childhood on asthma prevalence. However, diet has been linked to the development of the fetus and child. Breastfeeding provides immunological protection when the infant's immune system is immature and a modest protective effect against wheeze in early childhood. Moreover, maternal diet may be a significant factor in the development of the fetal airway and immune system. As asthma is a complex disease of gene-environment interactions, maternal diet may play an epigenetic role in sensitizing fetal airways to respond abnormally to environmental insults. Recent hypotheses show promise in a biological approach in which the effects of dietary factors on individual physiology and immunology are analyzed before expansion into larger population studies. Thus, collaboration is required by various groups in studying this enigma from epidemiologists to geneticists to immunologists. It is now apparent that this multidisciplinary approach is required to move forward and understand the complexity of the interaction of dietary factors and asthma

Fetal and infant origins of asthma

Previous studies have suggested that asthma, like other common diseases, has at least part of its origin early in life. Low birth weight has been shown to be associated with increased risks of asthma, chronic obstructive airway disease, and impaired lung function in adults, and increased risks of respiratory symptoms in early childhood. The developmental plasticity hypothesis suggests that the associations between low birth weight and diseases in later life are explained by adaptation mechanisms in fetal life and infancy in response to various adverse exposures. Various pathways leading from adverse fetal and infant exposures to growth adaptations and respiratory health outcomes have been studied, including fetal and early infant growth patterns, maternal smoking and diet, children’s diet, respiratory tract infections and acetaminophen use, and genetic susceptibility. Still, the specific adverse exposures in fetal and early postnatal life leading to respiratory disease in adult life are not yet fully understood. Current studies suggest that both environmental and genetic factors in various periods of life, and their epigenetic mechanisms may underlie the complex associations of low birth weight with respiratory disease in later life. New well-designed epidemiological studies are needed to identify the specific underlying mechanisms. This review is focused on specific adverse fetal and infant growth patterns and exposures, genetic susceptibility, possible respiratory adaptations and perspectives for new studies

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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Common Inflammation-Related Candidate Gene Variants and Acute Kidney Injury in 2647 Critically Ill Finnish Patients

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome with high incidence among the critically ill. Because the clinical variables and currently used biomarkers have failed to predict the individual susceptibility to AKI, candidate gene variants for the trait have been studied. Studies about genetic predisposition to AKI have been mainly underpowered and of moderate quality. We report the association study of 27 genetic variants in a cohort of Finnish critically ill patients, focusing on the replication of associations detected with variants in genes related to inflammation, cell survival, or circulation. In this prospective, observational Finnish Acute Kidney Injury (FINNAKI) study, 2647 patients without chronic kidney disease were genotyped. We defined AKI according to Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. We compared severe AKI (Stages 2 and 3, n = 625) to controls (Stage 0, n = 1582). For genotyping we used iPLEX(TM) Assay (Agena Bioscience). We performed the association analyses with PLINK software, using an additive genetic model in logistic regression. Despite the numerous, although contradictory, studies about association between polymorphisms rs1800629 in TNFA and rs1800896 in IL10 and AKI, we found no association (odds ratios 1.06 (95% CI 0.89-1.28, p = 0.51) and 0.92 (95% CI 0.80-1.05, p = 0.20), respectively). Adjusting for confounders did not change the results. To conclude, we could not confirm the associations reported in previous studies in a cohort of critically ill patients