2Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tokai University Oiso Hospital, 21-1 Gakkyo, Oiso, Kanagawa 259-0114, Japan
3Department of Health and Welfare, Okayama Prefectural Government, Uchi-Yamashita 2-4-6, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-8570, Japan
Research Methods & Procedures: A total of 63 healthy Japanese participants, aged 20–28 years, who did not have smoking and drinking alcohol habit, were surveyed. Questionnaires about background, which included Body Mass Index (BMI), preference level of using dipping sauces in eating, eating snack food, drinking soft drinks, and preference levels for four tastes were performed. Taste examination (sweetness, saltiness, sourness, and bitterness) was performed using the dropped disc method. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed between the taste sense properties and questionnaire survey data.
Results: Multiple regression analysis showed that sweetness sensitivity (in which a higher score indicates lower sensitivity) was significantly affected by dietary background properties, with the strongest influence of sex, age and preference level of sour food. The following prediction equation was determined: Sweetness sensitivity=3.6 + [-0.25 × sex (male: 0, female: 1)] + (-0.03 × age) + [-0.13 × preference level of sour food (1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: neither agree nor disagree, 4: agree, 5: strongly agree)]. Analysis of variance showed an overall significant effect of these variables on sweetness sensitivity (R²=0.48, P < 0.01).
Conclusion: Sweetness sensitivity could be predicted by sex, age, and preference level of sour food, through a multiple regression analysis, in a healthy Japanese population.
Keywords: Taste sensory prediction; Sweetness sense; Dietary backgrounds; Preference level of sour food; sex; age.
Evaluation methods of taste sense are somewhat limited, as they rely on the subjective reaction of patients. An objective examination for evaluating the taste sensory system is required. We analyzed correlations between basic taste sense (sweetness, saltiness, sourness, and bitterness) and biochemical data for young, healthy participants, which indicated that saliva pH affects sweetness sensitivity.
Food preference relates to food habituation and habituation may be a basic mechanism underlying sensory specific satiety [8, 9]. However, there is no evidence regarding a relationship between preference level of basic taste sensations and dietary preference.
In the present study, we evaluated the taste sense in healthy adult subjects to advance the research of our previous report, in order to develop a simple prediction system of taste sense. 63 of 100 Japanese participants who were reported on our previous report participated in this study [10].They did not have any disease, including oral disorders. All participants completed questionnaire surveys about backgrounds and dietary preference, as well as a taste examination, which utilized identical methods to the previous report [10]. Taste analysis was based on a common, clinically applied kit that is used for detecting the four basic taste sensations (sweet, bitter, sour, salty), in five step concentrations.
This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Tokai University School of Medicine (13R034).
All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS (version 23), and P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Sex and BMI were coded by dummy variables (male: 0, female: 1) and (BMI < 18.5 = 1, 18.5 ≤ BMI < 25 = 2, 25 ≤ BMI< 30 = 3, 30 ≤ BMI< 35 = 4, 35 ≤ BMI = 5). Preference level of each status were coded as strongly disagree = 1, disagree = 2, neither agree/ disagree = 4, strongly agree = 5.
Taste |
Sweetness |
Salty |
Sourness |
Bitterness |
Absorbance |
n (%) |
n (%) |
n (%) |
n (%) |
1 |
1 (1.6) |
33 (52.4) |
3 (4.8) |
11 (17.5) |
2 |
43 (68.3) |
23 (36.5) |
36 (57.1) |
43 (68.3) |
3 |
17 (27.0) |
6 (9.5) |
23 (36.5) |
7 (11.1) |
4 |
0 (0) |
1 (1.6) |
1 (1.6) |
2 (3.2) |
5 |
2 (3.2) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
Mean absorbance |
2.4 |
1.6 |
2.4 |
2.0 |
Dipping sauces |
Eating snack foods |
Drinking soft drinks |
Drinking coffee or tea |
|
Preference level |
n (%) |
n (%) |
n (%) |
n (%) |
1 |
8 (12.7) |
5 (7.9) |
6 (9.5) |
38 (60.3) |
2 |
10 (15.9) |
3 (4.8) |
18 (28.6) |
8 (12.7) |
3 |
24 (38.1) |
24 (38.1) |
20 (31.7) |
9 (14.3) |
4 |
15 (23.8) |
25 (39.7) |
15 (23.8) |
4 (6.3) |
5 |
6 (9.5) |
6 (9.5) |
4 (6.3) |
4 (6.3) |
Taste |
Sweet |
Salty |
Sour |
Bitter |
Preference level |
n (%) |
n (%) |
n (%) |
n (%) |
1 |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
7 (11.1) |
2 |
1 (0.2) |
0 (0) |
4 (6.3) |
22 (34.9) |
3 |
18 (28.6) |
37 (58.7) |
40 (63.5) |
27 (42.9) |
4 |
32 (50.8) |
20 (31.7) |
16 (25.4) |
4 (6.3) |
5 |
12 (19.0) |
6 (9.5) |
3 (4.8) |
3 (4.8) |
Multiple regression analysis was performed using up to 3 variables. We extracted the independent variables that were most relevant to taste sense, as determined by the univariate analyses.
Preference level |
Taste sensitivity |
||||
Sweetness |
Saltiness |
sourness |
bitterness |
||
Sex |
NS |
NS |
-0.38** |
-0.32** |
|
Age |
NS |
-0.36** |
-0.27* |
-0.23* |
|
BMI |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
Sweet food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
Salty food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
Sour food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
Bitter food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
Dipping sauce |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
Snack food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
Soft drink |
0.24* |
0.22* |
NS |
NS |
|
Coffee or tea |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
We confirmed that all parameters were in the range of ±3SD. Saltiness, sourness, and bitterness taste sensitivities were not significantly related to any factors tested.
Preference level |
Preference level |
||||
Sweet |
Salty |
Sour |
Bitter |
||
1 |
NS |
NS |
-0.38** |
-0.32** |
|
2 |
NS |
-0.36** |
-0.27* |
-0.23* |
|
3 |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
4 |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
5 |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
sour food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
bitter food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
sauce |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
snack food |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
|
soft drink |
0.24* |
0.22* |
NS |
NS |
|
coffee or tea |
NS |
NS |
NS |
NS |
Of the four basic tastes, sweetness sensitivity plays the most important role in body weight control. This is because sugars that contribute to this sense are typically found in high-calorie food. Thus, sweetness sense is strongly linked to obesity [5, 6,15].
Sweetness threshold |
Partial regression coefficient |
Standard partial regression coefficient |
p value |
95% CI |
|
Lower limit |
Upper limit |
||||
Coefficient |
3.6 |
<0.01 |
2.97 |
4.2 |
|
Sex |
-0.03 |
-0.25 |
0.02 |
-0.61 |
-0.06 |
Age |
-0.02 |
-0.33 |
<0.01 |
-0.03 |
-0.01 |
Preference level of sour food |
-0.11 |
-0.13 |
<0.01 |
-0.28 |
-0.06 |
R²=0.48 |
ANOVA p<0.01 |
Human thresholds for stimulus detection appear to differ between sexes for a broad range of stimuli, with women detecting basic taste stimuli at lower concentrations than men [16]. Female rats show a decreased number of aversive responses, but a greater number of ingestive behaviors, toward sweet tastes [17]. Additionally, female rats receive different sensory information from the periphery regarding salty and sour stimuli, whereas input concerning sweet and bitter tastes is not affected by sex [16]. A recent human study has shown that there are sex differences in taste sensitivity for the four basic tastes, and that sweetness sensitivity is more robust than the other tastes [18]. The present study supports the above findings, and is the first to report that sex (female) affects sweetness sense in a human study.
A recent report also suggested that young adults showed significantly lower recognition thresholds of basic four tastes than an early-elderly group (aged 69–71 years), and the earlyelderly group showed significantly lower recognition thresholds of those than a late-elderly group (aged 79–81 years) [18]. However, in the present report, age was negatively correlated with sweetness sense. Participants of present study were aged 20–28 years (mean: 24.2 years), which was younger than those of the afore mentioned report [18]. In addition, the current study examined participants who were healthy, not smoking, and did not consume alcohol. However, the previous study included participants who exhibited systemic/oral disease, drinking, and smoking habituation [10].
It is well known that sourness strongly relates to pH [19]. Our previous report indicated that saliva pH affects sweetness sense [10]. Habituation to the sweetness palatability is related with dietary symptoms such as obesity or lifestyle disease [20]. Habituation to the sweetness palatability is related with dietary symptoms, such as obesity and/or lifestyle disease [20]. The present results support these findings, as multiple logistic regressions indicated a preference for sour food.
In conclusion, sweetness sensitivity was able to be predicted by sex, age, and preference level of sour food, via a multiple regression analysis, in a healthy Japanese population. However, the result of multiple regressions was significantly, but moderately influenced (R²=0.48, P < 0.01). Further studies are warranted to clarify the biological mechanism of sweetness sensory mechanism.
Collection, generation, assembly, analysis, and interpretation of data: K.A, H.Y, R.K
Drafting/revision of the manuscript: K.A, M.U, Y.N.
Approval of the final version of the manuscript: K.A, Y-I.O, Y-H.O.
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