Taste, Fat Sensation and Texture Study

Food is selected primarily on their taste and texture properties. It is essential to get more insight in taste and texture characteristics of the foods in the Dutch and Malaysian diets for a better understanding of food choices. Currently, there is insufficient information on taste and texture properties of foods to relate these properties to the composition of diets and individual food choice in larger (observational) studies.

In the current study, the investigators want to assess the perceived intensities of the 5 basic tastes, i.e. sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami, as well as fat sensation and texture, in an array of about 1,000 often consumed Dutch and Malaysian foods. The investigators aim to do this with a trained sensory panel, which is a well-accepted way of assessing perception of sensory attributes.

With the current study, the investigators aim to build a table, which is comparable to the food composition table, but contains data that describes foods and meals in terms of sensory properties. That is, investigators want to quantify sensory characteristics of about 1,000 commonly eaten Dutch and Malaysian foods. This enables investigators to add sensory information to the food intake data that is already being collected in observational studies, and to further understand food choices in specific populations, such as elderly and patient groups. In current project, the investigators also aim to compare the Dutch diet to the Malaysian diet in term of sensory properties.

The study is an observational study on taste and texture of commonly consumed Dutch and Malaysian foods with three phases, i.e. screening, training and tasting sessions.

The study will be held in the sensory tasting rooms at Wageningen University, The Netherlands and Taylor's University, Malaysia, respectively.

After the recruitment and prior to the training and tasting sessions, there will be a 2-hour screening session (Phase I) during which the investigators will select respective Dutch and Malaysian participants based on their performance in a sensory test.

During the training session (Phase II), the participants need to commit and involve in 2 1½-hour sessions a week for approximately four- six months (until sufficiently trained).

At the tasting sessions (Phase III), trained Dutch and Malaysian panellist also need to involve in 2-3 sessions a week for a consecutive three years. Each session will take approximately 1½ hour. During this session, series of food will be rated for their taste, fat and texture. In addition, food texture will be measured by eating rate and quantifying the size of the bites which it is eaten.

The usual performance of the panellist also are discussed with the panellists and monitored throughout the training phase and regularly (each month) during the tasting phase.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Age: 18-55 years
* BMI: 18.5-25kg/m2 (self-reported)
* Physically and mentally healthy as not suffering or under control by any medications
* Available during the whole period and shown to be committed to participate 3 times/wk
* Good performance on the sensory tests during the screening

Exclusion Criteria:

* Smoking (equal or more than 1 unit per day and those stopped smoking less than3 months)
* Excessive alcoholic consumer (more than 21 units per week)
* Being vegetarian or having religious dietary restrictions
* Reported to have certain dental limitations (denture, tongue piercing or difficulties in chewing and swallowing)
* Reported intolerance or allergies to foods
* Using medications that are known to affect taste and smell identification
* Being pregnant or lactating
* Participating and/or planning to participate in other studies for the coming three years