Medical Dietetics & Health Sciences, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA.
Department of Food Science & Technology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Support Care Cancer. 2021 Oct;29(10):5729-5739. doi: 10.1007/s00520-021-06090-3. Epub 2021 Mar 17.
Evidence documents the role of modifiable lifestyle behaviors in optimizing physical and mental health outcomes for survivors of cancer. Fruit and vegetable consumption is one such behavior, and understanding survivor sensory perceptions of produce can inform interventions aimed at improving dietary patterns. The objective of this study was to assess the sensory perceptions of survivors of cancer and their caregivers when asked to evaluate garden-harvested and grocery-purchased produce.
Participants enrolled in a garden-based biobehavioral intervention and their caregivers (n=32) were invited to participate in a sensory evaluation of four produce types: tangerine cherry tomatoes, green cabbage, green beans, and green bell peppers. Samples were coded and distributed in a random fashion, and participants completed validated sensory surveys (preference, liking/acceptability, and discrimination) for each type of produce.
Upon initial blinded evaluation, a significant preference for grocery-purchased produce was noted for green cabbage, green beans, and green bell peppers but not tomatoes (all p<0.05). After self-labeling, however, participants reported a preference for perceived garden-harvested produce (all p≤0.001) even when incorrectly labeled. Liking/acceptability scores were significantly higher among self-labeled garden-harvested versus self-labeled grocery-purchased for all types of produce (all p≤0.001). These data reveal survivors of cancer and their caregivers perceive garden-harvested produce as superior to grocery-purchased, though were unable to accurately identify the two sources based upon sensory factors such as taste, smell, and texture alone when blinded for three of the four types of produce.
Findings indicate future interventions should address perceptions of produce to facilitate improvements in consumption in these vulnerable individuals.
有证据表明，可改变的生活方式行为在优化癌症幸存者的身心健康结果方面发挥着作用。食用水果和蔬菜就是这样一种行为，了解幸存者对农产品的感官感知可以为旨在改善饮食模式的干预措施提供信息。本研究的目的是评估癌症幸存者及其护理人员对花园收获和杂货店购买的农产品的感官感知。
参加基于花园的生物行为干预的参与者及其护理人员（n=32）被邀请参与对四种农产品类型的感官评估：橘子樱桃番茄、绿白菜、青豆和绿甜椒。样品被编码并以随机方式分发，参与者完成了针对每种农产品类型的经过验证的感官调查（偏好、喜欢/可接受性和辨别）。
在最初的盲评中，杂货店购买的绿白菜、青豆和绿甜椒受到明显偏好，而西红柿则没有（均 p<0.05）。然而，在自我标记后，参与者报告对感知的花园收获的农产品有偏好（均 p≤0.001），即使标签不正确。与自我标记的杂货店购买的产品相比，自我标记的花园收获的产品的喜欢/可接受性评分显着更高（所有 p≤0.001）。这些数据表明，癌症幸存者及其护理人员认为花园收获的农产品优于杂货店购买的农产品，尽管在四种农产品中的三种被蒙蔽时，他们无法仅根据味道、气味和质地等感官因素准确识别这两种来源。
研究结果表明，未来的干预措施应该解决对农产品的感知问题，以促进这些弱势群体的消费改善。
