Taste preferences, food choices and eating habits all change with age. The transition from childhood to adolescence and adult life is associated with reduced sweet taste preferences, lower sugars consumption and reduced energy density of the diet. Ageing is associated with elevated acceptance of bitter tastes, elevated preferences for vegetables and salad greens, and increased consumption of wh...

AIMS To determine the threshold index of sweet and salty tastes in alcoholics undergoing treatment. METHODS Taste threshold was assessed using type 3-Alternative Forced Choice in a control group (92 non-alcoholic volunteers) and a test group (92 alcoholics in therapy). The test group completed a structured questionnaire on lifestyle and habits. RESULTS Significant difference were found betw...

OBJECTIVE Formative research to facilitate the development, packaging and delivery of a culturally acceptable nutrition intervention for HIV-infected women in rural Kenya for an intervention trial. DESIGN Focus group discussion on three areas: (i) ingredients and form of the nutrition intervention, (ii) packaging and delivery and (iii) monitoring of adherence. Two single-blind taste tests wit...

In contrast to most other plant tissues, fleshy fruits are meant to be eaten in order to facilitate seed dispersal. Although fleshy fruits attract consumers, they may also contain toxic secondary metabolites. However, studies that link the effect of fruit toxins with seed dispersal and predation are scarce. Glucosinolates (GLSs) are a family of bitter-tasting compounds. The fleshy fruit pulp of...

We test for the long-term effects of experience during youth on consumption in nontraditional taste-forming categories. A unique dataset that tracks individuals over twenty years from 1992-2011, residing in nine Chinese provinces that vary widely in both income levels and rate of economic growth, helps us identify cohort and intra-cohort “prosperity-inyouth” (PIY) effects on consumption. We fir...

Obesity is an increasing problem in the United States and is responsible for a host of associated health problems, including hypertension and diabetes. It is therefore important to identify factors contributing to overeating and consumption of unhealthy foods; taste perception and preference are obvious factors to consider. In a recent article, Kovacs and Hajnal have uncovered a relationship be...

UNLABELLED This descriptive and cross-sectional study aimed to characterize the pattern of energy drinks consumption in a sample of physical education students through a self-applied questionnaire (socio-demographic data and characterization of consumption). Variables associated with consumption: gender, marital status, attending gym classes, athletic swim practice, and study in the morning. Co...

Taste changes in patients undergoing chemotherapy are common and can be of long duration, are associated with poor nutrition, and can reduce quality of life. A pilot study of the fruit Synsepalum dulcificum-known as "miracle fruit"-as a novel supportive intervention was conducted with eight patients with cancer who were being treated with chemotherapy and reporting taste changes. Miraculin, a n...

The ability to associate the consumption of a taste with its positive or negative consequences is fundamental to survival and influences the behavior of species ranging from invertebrate to human. As a result, for both research and clinical reasons, there has been a great effort to understand the neuronal circuits, as well as the cellular and molecular mechanisms, underlying taste learning. Fro...

Taste memories allow animals to modulate feeding behavior in accordance with past experience and avoid the consumption of potentially harmful food [1]. We have developed a single-fly taste memory assay to functionally interrogate the neural circuitry encoding taste memories [2]. Here, we screen a collection of Split-GAL4 lines that label small populations of neurons associated with the fly memo...