Puleo Sharon, Braghieri Ada, Pacelli Corrado, Bendini Alessandra, Toschi Tullia Gallina, Torri Luisa, Piochi Maria, Di Monaco Rossella
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Food Science and Technology Division, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici, Italy.
School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, Italy.
Foods. 2021 Dec 16;10(12):3122. doi: 10.3390/foods10123122.
Smell, which allows us to gather information about the hedonic value of an odor, is affected by many factors. This study aimed to assess the relationship among individual factors, odor sensitivity, and enjoyment, and to evaluate how overall flavor perception and liking in actual food samples are affected by odor sensitivity. A total of 749 subjects, from four different Italian regions, participated in the study. The olfactory capabilities test on four odors (anise, banana, mint, and pine), as well as PROP (6-n-prpyl-2-thiouracil) status and food neophobia were assessed. The subjects were clustered into three groups of odor sensitivity, based on the perceived intensity of anise. The liking and intensity of the overall flavor were evaluated for four chocolate puddings with increasing sweetness (C1, C2, C3, and C4). The individual variables significantly affected the perceived intensity and liking of the odors. Even if all of the odor sensitivity groups perceived the more intensely flavored samples as the C1 and C4 chocolate puddings, the high-sensitivity group scored the global flavor of all of the samples as more intense than the low-sensitivity group. The low-sensitive subjects evaluated the liking of the sweeter samples with higher scores than the moderate-sensitive subjects, whereas the high-sensitive subjects gave intermediate scores. In conclusion, odor sensitivity plays a pivotal role in the perception and liking of real food products; this has to be taken into account in the formulation of new products, suitable for particular categories with reduced olfactory abilities.
嗅觉能让我们收集有关气味享乐价值的信息，它会受到多种因素的影响。本研究旨在评估个体因素、气味敏感度和愉悦感之间的关系，并评估气味敏感度如何影响实际食品样本中的整体风味感知和喜好程度。来自意大利四个不同地区的749名受试者参与了这项研究。对四种气味（茴芹、香蕉、薄荷和松树）进行了嗅觉能力测试，同时评估了6-n-丙基-2-硫尿嘧啶（PROP）状态和食物新恐惧症。根据对茴芹气味的感知强度，将受试者分为三组气味敏感度。对甜度递增的四种巧克力布丁（C1、C2、C3和C4）的整体风味喜好程度和强度进行了评估。个体变量显著影响了对气味的感知强度和喜好程度。即使所有气味敏感度组都认为C1和C4巧克力布丁等风味更浓郁的样本，高敏感度组对所有样本的整体风味评分比低敏感度组更高。低敏感度受试者对甜度更高的样本的喜好评分高于中等敏感度受试者，而高敏感度受试者给出的是中间分数。总之，气味敏感度在真实食品的感知和喜好中起着关键作用；在为嗅觉能力下降的特定人群开发新产品时，必须考虑到这一点。
