Are healthiness and pleasure dimensions perceived similarly by people with food addiction in Brazil? A case study using holistic sensory methodologies.

The relationship between the consumption of hyper-palatable ultra-processed foods and the process of addiction gains notoriety due to its relationship with obesity. Food addiction is a complex phenomenon intrinsically related to the individual's behavioral, emotional, and subjective aspects. Therefore, using classical approaches to sensory science may be insufficient to understand better the individual's sensory experience with hyper-palatable foods. In this context, sensory and consumer science techniques with holistic approaches have been aimed at accessing more subjective consumer perceptions. This study used the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS 2.0) to investigate the prevalence of food addiction and the Structured Projective Mapping (S-MP) and Sorting techniques to verify how individuals with and without food addiction perceive and understand different types of food. The prevalence of food addiction was 21.77% (n = 59 out of 271) and was associated with a higher BMI but not with sociodemographic aspects. Projective Mapping (RV = 0.937) and Sorting (RV = 0.934) indicated that perception in relation to attributes such as health and pleasure was similar for all investigated foods in individuals with or without food addiction. The presence of addictive eating behavior does not seem to be related to the way individuals perceive foods from different categories, for example, minimally or highly processed and hyper-palatable foods.

Temporal profile of low calorie lactose-free ice cream chocolate flavor: temporal dominance sensation and multiple time-intensity analysis.

The food industry has a consumer market with growing interest in modified products, so this study aimed to evaluate consumer acceptance and characterize the temporal profile of traditional and lactose-free "low calorie chocolate ice creams". Six different samples were produced: three formulated with traditional whole milk sweetened with sucrose, sucralose and stevia and three formulated with lactose-free whole milk, also sweetened with the same sweeteners. Time-intensity analysis, temporal dominance of sensation and acceptance analysis were performed. The ice cream with lactose-free milk sweetened with stevia had a lower acceptance. The samples sweetened with sucrose were characterized by intensity, duration and dominance of the "sweet" and "chocolate flavor", while the samples sweetened with sucralose were characterized by intensity and duration of the "sweet" stimulus and also by the dominance of the "milk flavor" stimulus. The samples sweetened with stevia were characterized by greater intensity and duration of bitter stimulus, being also characterized by intensity of sweet taste and chocolate flavor. It can be verified that the use of stevia promotes relevant difference in lactose-free ice cream when compared to traditional ice cream, increasing the duration and dominance of bitter taste, as well impacting and decreasing the consumer acceptance. However, the addition of sucralose did not promote significant changes in the profile of both formulations.

Impact assessment of different electric fields on the quality parameters of blueberry flavored dairy desserts processed by Ohmic Heating.

The effect of ohmic heating (OH) (1.82, 3.64, 5.45, 7.30, 9.1 V cm-1, 90 °C/3 min) and conventional pasteurization in the parameters of quality of dairy desserts with blueberry flavor was investigated. Processes performances (heating rate, thermal load and energy consumption), physicochemical characteristics (fatty acids profile, volatile compounds, rheological assay and color parameters) and bioactive compounds (total phenolics, anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, inhibition of α-glycosidase, α-amylase, and angiotensin-converting enzymes) were evaluated. OH technology proportionated decreased heat generation, energy consumption and heat rate compared to conventional process. OH-treated dairy desserts subjected to higher electric field strength greater inhibition of α-glucosidase and ACE enzymes, without difference in fatty acid profile; however negative effects were observed in color parameters, volatiles profiling and rheological behavior. Overall, the results suggest the influence of ohmic heating on blueberry dairy processing is multidimensional, being the conditions of operation should be carefully chosen to keep the functional and structural aspects of the product.

Sensory Influence of Sweetener Addition on Traditional and Decaffeinated Espresso.

Several factors have led to an increase in the consumption of sweeteners in substitution of sucrose. Studies on the behavior and the sensory properties of sweeteners are relevant, once they provide knowledge about both the adequate sweetener concentration with a sweetness equivalence to a sucrose-sweetened product and the possible sensory changes of the product. The addition of stevia with different rebaudioside A concentrations and sucralose to traditional and decaffeinated espresso coffee was studied, using the just-about-right scale and magnitude estimation method, to determine the ideal sweetness and the acceptance of the samples. The effect of the intensity of sensory attributes sweet taste, bitter taste, coffee flavor, and body in the acceptance was evaluated by penalty analysis. Decaffeinated presented proportionally lower sucrose concentration and sweetness equivalence than the traditional samples. Stevia concentrations were similar, despite the different rebaudioside A concentrations, for both traditional and decaffeinated samples, and rebaudioside A levels from stevia in espresso have no differences in sweetness intensity. Sucralose was the most intense sweetener in espresso. Although no differences were observed in the acceptance test in relation to appearance, aroma, and texture among the samples, the internal preference map showed segmentation of consumers with respect to the acceptability. This segmentation is more related to the type of sample than the added sweetener. Penalty analysis demonstrated that the most penalizing sensory characteristics were "coffee flavor" and "sweet," leading to a significant decrease in the acceptability of the samples. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Conclusions obtained are important source of knowledge for the coffee industry, in the development and manufacture of beverages with coffee. The present findings can help to understand the behavior and the sensory properties of sweeteners. They provide knowledge about sensory perception of sweet and bitter tastes, and the factors that influence this perception and the sensory profile of the samples, once the behavior of sweeteners varies according to the product to which they are added.