by MMRParreño
Taste is used to know the quality of food. It is recognized that certain taste preferences are innate and are based on what is perceived to be good and harmful for the body; sweet, salty and umami [1] which are usually associated with nutritious foods while bitter and sour to poisonous or spoiled foods. The sense of taste greatly affects the food preference and likewise, the diet of an individual. Thus, taste is connected to health. A study conducted by Prof. Blanca Villarino and Carleneth P. Fernandez of the College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman (2007) analyzed the relationship of the sense of taste with body mass index (BMI) [2] , food preference, as well as energy and nutrient intakes of Filipino adults. A sample of a hundred Filipino men and women from ages eighteen to sixty participated in the study. They were classified according to their BMI and were asked to answer self-reported three-day food records and food preference checklists.
The study used taste threshold to measure taste. Specifically, taste threshold is defined in the study as “the measure of absolute sensitivity to a stimulus and is a useful indicator of the functionality of sensory system (Mela and Mattes, 1988).” The lower the taste threshold, the easier for food to satisfy an individual’s liking for a certain taste. On the other hand, higher threshold indicates slower taste satisfaction. The high threshold may represent the particular taste an individual desires, thus leading to higher food consumption to achieve satisfaction. Another measurement used for taste is the responsiveness of an individual to the bitterness of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). The PROP taster status identifies those who experience the bitter taste with greater intensity (supertaster), those who sense the bitterness moderately (medium tasters), and those who completely don’t taste the bitterness (nontasters). Supertasters are more sensitive to taste due to the greater number of taste buds, which can reach up to twice the regular number of taste buds. Nontasters have fewer taste buds while medium tasters have an intermediate number of taste buds. Based on the research, “several studies have shown implications of PROP sensitivity to food preference, selection and consumption (Drewnowski et al., 1999; Pasquet et al., 2002; Tepper, 1998; Drewnowski et al., 2001).” This is the first study to apply the concept of taste threshold and PROP in Filipinos, thus making the results of this study the baseline data in the Philippines.
The results gathered from the study show that the taste thresholds of the selected respondents were not associated with their BMI and have a negligible relationship with their food preferences. However, taste thresholds significantly affect the energy and nutrient intakes of individuals. The respondents with high taste threshold have the tendency to consume high-calorie foods, which may lead to weight gain. An analysis of the PROP taster status showed that the Filipino adult sample is composed of 12% nontasters, 45% medium tasters, and 43% supertasters. PROP taster status was found to have no effect on BMI and energy and nutrient intake of the respondents though in food preference, the sweet-tasting foods were most preferred while the bitter-tasting foods were least preferred. Supertasters tend to dislike bitter, fatty and sweet foods contrary to the food preference of nontasters while medium tasters tend to enjoy foods more probably due to moderate sensitivity in taste. The study suggests that supertasters have a lower risk of heart disease due to less consumption of sweet, salty, and fatty foods; nontasters have a predisposition to overweight and obesity and a higher risk of heart disease because of more consumption of the foods mentioned. Supertasters, however, have low intakes of certain nutrients obtained from fruits and vegetables such as bitter flavonoids [3] therefore making them more susceptible to diseases such as colon cancer. The study recommends exploring other factors that could affect food preference and diet of Filipinos, among which are age, socio-economic conditions, and other dietary restrictions.
Blanca J. Villarino is an assistant professor at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Home Economics in the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her field of interest includes sensory science, product development using response surface methodology, and taste genetics. Some of her research contributions are “Descriptive sensory evaluation of virgin coconut oil” in the journal LWT-Food Science and Technology and “Manual sorting to eliminate aflatoxin from peanuts” in the Journal of Food Protection.
Carleneth P. Fernandez is an instructor at the U.P. Department of Food Science and Nutrition. She intends to work on studies contributing to an understanding of overweight and obesity in the Philippines.
References:
BBC Science & Nature: Human Body & Mind. “Science of Supertasters.” June 2008. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/articles/senses/supertaster....
Drewnowski A, Henderson SA, Levine A, and Hann C. 1999. Taste and food preferences as predictors of dietary practices in young women. Public Health Nutrition. 2 (4): 513-519
Drewnowski A, Kristal A, and Cohen J. 2001. Genetic taste responses to 6-n-propylthiouracil among adults: a screening tool for epidemiology studies. Chemical Senses. 26: 483-489
Oregon State University. Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. The Linus Pauling Institute. “Antioxidant Activities of Flavonoids.“ June 2008.
<http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/f-w00/flavonoid.html>
Pasquet, P., Oberti, B., El Ati, J., and Hladik, C.M. 2002. Relationships between threshold-based PROP sensitivity and food preferences. Appetite 39 (2), 167-173
Tepper BJ and Nurse RJ. 1998. PROP taster status is related to fat perception and preference. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 855: 802-804
Umami Information Center. “What is Umami?” June 2008. <http://www.umamiinfo.com/what_exactly_is_umami/>
World Health Organization. “Global Database on Body Mass Index.” June 2008. <http://www.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=intro_3.html>
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[1] Umami taste is primarily associated with important amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, which are physiologically important in the body for survival. It is a savoury taste imparted by glutamate and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products.
[2] Body Mass Index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify underweight, overweight and obesity in adults. It is defined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in metres (kg/m2).
[3] Flavonoids are compounds found in fruits, vegetables, and certain beverages that have diverse beneficial biochemical and antioxidant effects. Flavonoids have been reported to have antiviral, anti-allergic, antiplatelet, anti-inflammatory, antitumor and antioxidant activities.
