Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) comparison of taste profiles for different sweeteners in black tea, chocolate milk, and natural yogurt.

Growing health concerns have increased interest in reducing the consumption of added sugars, which can be achieved by substituting or replacing sugar with sweeteners to maintain sensory intensity and quality. The growing availability of sweeteners has increased the complexity of the perceptual landscape as sweeteners differ in the qualitative, intensity, and temporal properties. A sweetener that can match the perceptual properties of sucrose in different food matrices is likely to have broad applications. In complex foods, sweetness is influenced by the taste interactions with the existing tastants and possible matrix effects that influence release and perception of sweetness. The current study compared the taste properties of three food matrices (black tea, chocolate milk, and natural yogurt) sweetened by sucrose to those sweetened using eight different sweeteners (acesulfame-K, aspartame, erythritol, luo han guo (Mogroside), palatinose (iso-maltulose), stevia (Reb-A), sucralose, and sucrose-allulose mixture) using Rate-All-That-Apply. The sensory properties of each sweetener differed across matrices, with sucrose-allulose mixture, aspartame, erythritol, palatinose, and sucralose having the most similar taste to sucrose across all foods. By contrast, acesulfame-K, stevia, and luo han guo had taste profiles that most varied from sucrose, characterized by side tastes such as bitterness, chemical taste, and a low sweetness. Sweeteners differed most from sucrose when presented in natural yogurt compared to tea and chocolate milk. A food's taste properties can suppress sweetness intensity and promote undesirable side tastes. Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of testing sweeteners in complex foods and help identify sweeteners and sweetener combinations that can replicate the sweetness of sucrose and support sugar reduction. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Food manufacturers and researchers can refer to the results of the sensory profiles to identify suitable sweeteners substitutes for sucrose in foods with similar taste profiles to those tested. The current article highlights important changes to sweetener sensory properties when presented in different complex foods, and provides an indication of the potential for calorie reduction by substituting sucrose with a range of low or no calorie sweeteners.

Effects of Transglutaminase on the Protein Network and In Vitro Starch Digestibility of Asian Wheat Noodles.

Wheat noodles are a staple commonly consumed in Asia, but high intakes have been associated with type 2 diabetes due to its rapid starch digestibility. We hypothesised that protein network-binding via transglutaminase (TG) would form a stronger barrier encapsulating the starch granules to limit enzymatic access and digestion. The amount of glucose release decreased significantly with increasing TG concentration, with a reduction of approximately 16% with 2% TG after 120 min of digestion. The slower rate of glucose release during the first 60 min of digestion for 2% compared to 0% TG suggested impeded first stage enzymatic access rather than second stage starch hydrolysis into glucose. Upon increasing the TG concentration, confocal microscopy revealed a denser protein network with increased connectivity, supported by a decrease in protein solubility and gelatinisation enthalpy, and increased firmness and work of shear. Therefore, transglutaminase can potentially be used to reduce starch digestibility in wheat noodles via protein network-binding.

Temporal sweetness and side tastes profiles of 16 sweeteners using temporal check-all-that-apply (TCATA).

An increase in consumer awareness around the negative health impacts of consuming excess added sugars has led to a rise in the replacement of sucrose in foods and beverages. This replacement is often through the use of low or no calorie sweeteners to reduce total calories while maintaining sweetness and palatability. There are a wide variety of sweeteners with diverse physical and caloric compositions which can be used at concentrations estimated to be equi-sweet to sucrose in food products. However, many of the available sweeteners are known to differ in their temporal profiles and may have other side and aftertastes alongside sweetness that need to be considered when comparing their suitability as potential sucrose substitutes. The objective of the current study was to profile and compare the temporal sweetness and qualitative differences of 15 sweeteners to sucrose across nutritive saccharide (sucrose, dextrose, fructose, allulose (D-psicose), palatinose (isomaltulose), sucrose-allulose mixture), nutritive polyol (maltitol, erythritol, mannitol, xylitol, sorbitol) and non-nutritive (acesulfame-k, aspartame, sucralose, stevia (rebaudioside-A or rebA), luo han guo (monk fruit extract or mogroside)) groups, at equi-sweet intensity to 10% w/v sucrose based on a previous psychophysical dose-response study. Using the Temporal Check-all-that-Apply (TCATA) method, 20 participants evaluated a set of 17 sweetener samples (including a sucrose duplicate) in triplicates across three 1-h sessions for the occurrence of six attributes (sweetness, bitterness, metallic taste, chemical taste, honey taste and mouth-drying) over a 60 s period. Sucrose was characterised by a rapid sweetness onset (within first 10 s) to peak citation, and subsequent decay of sweetness with minimal side tastes noted. Acesulfame-K, stevia (rebA) and luo han guo had prominent and long-lasting citations of the undesirable bitter, metallic and chemical side tastes and significantly lower sweetness citations. Allulose, erythritol, sorbitol, aspartame and sucralose were perceived to have bitter, metallic and chemical side tastes, but retained a largely sweet taste profile, with longer residual sweetness for aspartame and sucralose. Nutritive sweeteners dextrose, fructose, maltitol, mannitol, sucrose-allulose mixture, palatinose and xylitol had the most similar temporal and qualitative taste profiles when compared to sucrose, in terms of their sweetness onset, peak sweetness citations, sweetness decay, and side taste profiles.

Correlation of instrumental texture properties from textural profile analysis (TPA) with eating behaviours and macronutrient composition for a wide range of solid foods.

Faster eating rates have previously been associated with higher ad libitum energy intakes, and several studies have manipulated eating rates and intake by changing food textures. Food texture based changes to slow eating rates can produce reductions in energy intake without affecting post-meal satisfaction or re-bound hunger. However, an understanding of how specific food textures and instrumental texture properties influence oral processing behaviour remains limited. The current study sought to establish relationships between objective measures of oral processing behaviour (i.e. number of bites, average bite size, total chews, chews per bite, oro-sensory exposure time and eating rate) and instrumental measures of a food texture including hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, resilience and modulus. Across two studies, behavioural coding analysis was completed on video-recordings of participants consuming fixed portions of a wide range of different solid foods (n = 59) to derive objective measures of oral processing behaviours. These measures were correlated with instrumental Textural Profile Analysis (TPA) for the same set of foods. Significant correlations (p < 0.05) were found between oral processing parameters and texture properties (i.e. springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness and resilience). No significant correlations were found between hardness and modulus and oral processing parameters. Protein content of the food was associated with springiness and chewiness, which may help to further reduce eating rates. In terms of the 'breakdown path model', hardness and modulus might represent degree of initial food structure while springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness and resilience seem to determine how fast the degree of structure is reduced to the swallowing plane. Water content and adhesiveness were associated with level of lubrication that is required before reaching the swallowing plane. The current study highlights opportunities to understand eating rate (g min-1) through the breakdown path model and the potential for specific features of a foods texture to influence rate and extent of energy intake. The correlation between instrumental texture properties and oral processing patterns provides guidance on the parameters that are likely to produce 'faster' and 'slower' versions of foods, and suggests how texture modifications could be applied to moderate eating rate and energy intake within meals.