Subtle changes in the flavour and texture of a drink enhance expectations of satiety

Background: The consumption of liquid calories has been implicated in the development of obesity and weight gain. Energy-containing drinks are often reported to have a weak satiety value: one explanation for this is that because of their fluid texture they are not expected to have much nutritional value. It is important to consider what features of these drinks can be manipulated to enhance their expected satiety value. Two studies investigated the perception of subtle changes in a drink’s viscosity, and the extent to which thick texture and creamy flavour contribute to the generation of satiety expectations. Participants in the first study rated the sensory characteristics of 16 fruit yogurt drinks of increasing viscosity. In study two, a new set of participants evaluated eight versions of the fruit yogurt drink, which varied in thick texture, creamy flavour and energy content, for sensory and hedonic characteristics and satiety expectations. Results: In study one, participants were able to perceive small changes in drink viscosity that were strongly related to the actual viscosity of the drinks. In study two, the thick versions of the drink were expected to be more filling and have a greater expected satiety value, independent of the drink’s actual energy content. A creamy flavour enhanced the extent to which the drink was expected to be filling, but did not affect its expected satiety. Conclusions: These results indicate that subtle manipulations of texture and creamy flavour can increase expectations that a fruit yogurt drink will be filling and suppress hunger, irrespective of the drink’s energy content. A thicker texture enhanced expectations of satiety to a greater extent than a creamier flavour, and may be one way to improve the anticipated satiating value of energy-containing beverages

Hyperbolic contraction measuring systems for extensional flow

In this paper an experimental method for extensional measurements on medium viscosity fluids in contraction flow is evaluated through numerical simulations and experimental measurements. This measuring technique measures the pressure drop over a hyperbolic contraction, caused by fluid extension and fluid shear, where the extensional component is assumed to dominate. The present evaluative work advances our previous studies on this experimental method by introducing several contraction ratios and addressing different constitutive models of varying shear and extensional response. The constitutive models included are those of the constant viscosity Oldroyd-B and FENE-CR models, and the shear-thinning LPTT model. Examining the results, the impact of shear and first normal stress difference on the measured pressure drop are studied through numerical pressure drop predictions. In addition, stream function patterns are investigated to detect vortex development and influence of contraction ratio. The numerical predictions are further related to experimental measurements for the flow through a 15:1 contraction ratio with three different test fluids. The measured pressure drops are observed to exhibit the same trends as predicted in the numerical simulations, offering close correlation and tight predictive windows for experimental data capture. This result has demonstrated that the hyperbolic contraction flow is well able to detect such elastic fluid properties and that this is matched by numerical predictions in evaluation of their flow response. The hyperbolical contraction flow technique is commended for its distinct benefits: it is straightforward and simple to perform, the Hencky strain can be set by changing contraction ratio, non-homogeneous fluids can be tested, and one can directly determine the degree of elastic fluid behaviour. Based on matching of viscometric extensional viscosity response for FENE-CR and LPTT models, a decline is predicted in pressure drop for the shear-thinning LPTT model. This would indicate a modest impact of shear in the flow since such a pressure drop decline is relatively small. It is particularly noteworthy that the increase in pressure drop gathered from the experimental measurements is relatively high despite the low Deborah number range explored