We all have a personal choice of foods that we enjoy more than others. It could be the smooth taste of chocolate, the unique flavour of a strong cheese or a spicy sauce.
Our preference for some foods over others results from a complex interaction of many factors that include genetics, age, initial experience with food, our national habits, the environment when trying a new food and physiological reactions to food.
One thing is clear; the taste of food is a vital influence in shaping our food choices. And while we adapt to dietary messages, we often think that eating a healthy diet means cutting out delicious food. Those messages can carry nutrients to combat these perceptions to assure the people that healthy and delicious food can be combined. There is more to taste than you can understand from language.
What we commonly call “taste” of food is really flavour as a result of the interaction between the senses of taste and smell. Other sensations from foods like the burn of chilli, the bite of a strong mint or the fizz of a carbonated drink, as well as texture, temperature and appearance all contribute to the experience of flavour.
At least 80 per cent of what we perceive as taste is actually smell. People can distinguish about 20,000 different scents and 10 or more volumes for these scents. The smell occurs when odours reach the olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity via two routes – inhalation through the nostrils and through the back of the mouth as chew and swallow.
The true taste occurs in the tongue, we are born with 10,000 taste buds on the back, sides and the tip of the tongue, palate and throat. When stimulated, the receptor cells in the taste buds detect five primary sensations: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and the salty-spicy taste of glutamate found in protein foods and monosodium glutamate but flavour changes with age.
The taste buds first appear when a foetus is seven or eight weeks and operated by the third trimester of pregnancy. Various flavours and “flavour senses” are transmitted to the foetus via the amniotic fluid. Infants seem to perceive the primary flavours in varying degrees. Breast fed infants are exposed to a variety of tastes, because breast milk carries the flavour of foods and spices that are eaten by the mother. It is the subject of ongoing research whether this and other early taste experiences affect food preferences later in life.
Taste starts decreasing with age, beginning around the age of 60, even healthy people begin to show a modest decline in the perception of flavour and more pronounced impairment of smell. Decrease of taste in flavour, often results in impaired appetite, which puts the elderly at risk of malnutrition, weight loss and increased susceptibility to disease. Strengthening the flavours of food, the provision of food and a pleasant texture can boost the elderly’s appetites and help to improve their nutritional and immunity status. One possibility to increase the “flavour” of food is the use of fruit juice, spices and herbs.
Savoury recommendation
“People are likely to eat foods they enjoy,” says dietician Renate Franz, honorary president of the European Federation of Associations Dietetics (European Federation of the Association of Dietitians). “We all have individual personal food preferences and food tasting is not necessarily in the same way. Recognition of personal tastes is so important when giving advice to people.
“Balancing personalized dietary recommendations with their health needs, lifestyle and taste preferences are part of effective dietary counselling. Finding healthy food that tastes good is essential for long-term success in maintaining a healthy diet. “