Relationship Between Taste and Chewing Patterns of Visco-Elastic Model Foods (original) (raw)
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When food is chewed, sensory feedback adapts the motor program to the characteristics of the food. However, the relationship between the physical properties of different foods and the motor response is poorly understood. In this study, we developed edible and well-controlled model foods in order to describe some of the stimulus-response functions of the food-mastication loop. Four gelatine-based visco-elastic model foods identical in shape and size but differing in hardness were prepared. They displayed reproducible sensory and physical characteristics and were distributed on a wide hardness scale. Electromyographic activity of mas-seter and temporalis muscles and jaw movements in the frontal plane were simultaneously recorded during masti-cation in 15 young men with intact dentition and good oral status. Almost all EMG and jaw movement parameters were clearly affected by increasing hardness of model foods. However, it is possible to summarise the results by reducing the number of parameters to three: the number of chewing cycles, EMG activity of any one of the two temporal or the two masseter muscles and the amplitude of the opening mandibular movements. Indeed, these were the best transcriptors of the hardness range of the model foods used in this study. As inferred from these parameter recordings, the food hardness modifications were strongest during the first five strokes, began as early as the first stroke and lasted for the whole sequence .
The influence of product and oral characteristics on swallowing
Archives of oral biology, 2005
The urge to swallow food could be triggered by a threshold level in both food particle size and lubrication of the food bolus. Thus, both oral physiology and product characteristics may influence the swallowing threshold. We quantified the swallowing threshold in a group of 266 healthy adult subjects (age 42 +/- 12 years) by counting the number of chewing cycles needed to prepare food for swallowing. The influence of oral physiology on the swallowing threshold was determined by measuring salivary flow rate, maximum bite force and masticatory performance. We used about 10 cm(3) of bread, toast, melba toast, breakfast cake, peanuts and cheese to determine the influence on the swallowing threshold of various food characteristics, e.g. hardness, moisture and fat. Furthermore, we tested the effect of buttering the bread, toast, melba toast and breakfast cake on the swallowing threshold. Salivary flow rates were significantly and negatively correlated with the number of chewing cycles of ...
Effect of Texture of Plastic and Elastic Model Foods on the Parameters of Mastication
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2006
Mastication is continually modified throughout the chewing sequence in response to the texture of the food. The aim of this work was to compare the effects of an increase in hardness of two model food types, presenting either elastic or plastic rheological properties, on mastication. Each model food type consisted of four products of different hardness. Sensory testing experiments conducted with one group of 14 subjects showed significant perceived differences between products in terms of their increasing hardness. Fifteen other volunteers were asked to chew three replicates of each elastic and plastic product during two sessions. EMGs of masseter and temporalis muscles were recorded simultaneously with jaw movement during chewing. Numerous variables were analyzed from these masticatory recordings. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess the respective effects of food hardness and rheological properties on variables characterizing either the whole masticatory sequenc...
Assessment of Gustatory Function by Means of Tasting Tablets
The Laryngoscope, 2000
Objective: To develop a simple test for the screening of gustatory function in clinical settings. Study Design: We tested 101 healthy volunteers (44 male and 57 female volunteers; mean age, 47 y) with the following gustatory test: the substances sucrose (sweet), citric acid (sour), sodium chloride (salty), and caffeine (bitter) were presented as tablets (diameter 4 mm) similar to common sweetener tablets. For quantitative assessment of whole-mouth gustatory function we used six different dosages with dilutions of each tastant in 50% steps. The highest dosage could be easily detected (sucrose, 30 mg; citric acid, 3 mg; sodium chloride, 2 mg; caffeine, 2 mg), and the lowest concentration was within threshold range. Methods: Twenty-eight tablets (six different dosages of the four basic tastes plus four tasteless tablets) were tried in a randomized order. The entire test required 15 to 20 minutes. To evaluate the within-subject test-retest reliability, sessions were repeated after 1 week. Results were compared with those obtained by means of a conventional three-drop, forced-choice procedure using the method of ascending limits. Results: Results of the new gustatory test were significantly correlated with those obtained using the three-drop, forcedchoice procedure (correlation coefficient [r] ؍ 0.66, P < .001). In general, women performed better than men. Furthermore, younger subjects exhibited a significantly higher gustatory sensitivity in both tests compared with older subjects. Conclusions: This quantitative test of whole-mouth gustatory function is easy to use, can be self-administered, requires little time, and has a long shelf-life. It appears to be suited for routine clinical assessment of gustatory function.
Journal of Texture Studies, 1994
Electromyography was used as a noninvasive and unobtrusive technique to characterise chewing patterns for a range of foods. Differences between subjects for a variety of aspects of chewing sequence are recorded for a range of foods (carrot, apple, roast pork, salami, biscuit and toast). Identifiable subgroups of subjects differing in chewing behaviour existed within the random sample of 52 dentate subjects. lhe five subgroups accounted for 52 %, 21 %, 1 I %, 10% and 6% of the sample population. Major discriminating factors between the behavioural groups lie in their chewing time and the muscle work rate during chewing. Sensory ratings for firmness and rubberiness of model foods differed signi$cantly between the subjects exhibiting different chewing behaviours. Chewing behaviour may influence consumers ' perceptions about the texture of a food.
Influence of the Number of Chewing Cycles on the Sweetness and Saltiness Intensity of Agarose Gel
Food Science and Technology Research
In this study, we investigated the relationship between the size of food pieces generated by chewing and the taste intensity during mastication, using cubic gels of two sizes made from agarose of different molecular weights. The intensities of both sweetness and saltiness increased to peak intensity and then decreased with increasing number of chewing cycles, irrespective of the gel sample size and of the molecular weight of agarose gels used. The suppression of sweet taste release was strong with high molecular weight agarose gels with a large pre-ingestion size. In the large pre-ingestion size gel, agarose of higher molecular weight required larger differences in gel fragment size for perception of significant differences in the sweetness intensity than agarose of lower molecular weight. The sodium chloride concentration eluted from agarose gel and the perception of taste was positively correlated in the early stage of mastication, but negatively correlated in the late stage.
The role of saliva in food sensory perception : relevant knowledge to design healthy foods
2017
Food choices and consumption are determined by a range of factors that contribute to aversion or pleasure and guide to final intake. Among these, the sensorial characteristics of food have a major and decisive role in choice behaviour. Although some of the mechanisms involved in oral food perception, namely in taste and astringency perception, are considerable known, many questions remains, particularly in what concerns variations among individuals in their sensitivity for food sensorial aspects. The understanding of the mechanisms leading to different responses for the same sensorial stimulus is particularly important to understand food choices.
A Test for Measuring Gustatory Function
Laryngoscope, 2008
Objectives/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of edible taste strips for measuring human gustatory function.
Journal of Food Engineering
Flavor release during eating is highly dependent upon mouth parameters. Major limitations have been reported during in vivo flavor release studies, such as marked intra- and inter-individual variability. To overcome these limitations, a chewing simulator has been developed to mimic the human mastication of food samples. Several devices had already been developed for diverse applications, but they only reproduced certain oral functions and were therefore not characteristic of the natural mouth environment. The newly developed device faithfully reproduces most of the functions of the human mouth. The active part of the system is a special cell, precisely tooled using a biocompatible and inert material, which operates around three axes which are fully actuated and computer-controlled. The cell comprises several mobile parts that can accurately reproduce shear and compression strengths and tongue functions real-time, according to data collected in vivo. Flavor release can be monitored o...