Unraveling the impact of in-mouth molecular interactions on sensory perception

口味和健康是影响消费者对产品喜爱程度的两个最重要因素。从历史上看，这两个因素之间存在权衡，消费者愿意为了健康而放弃口味。现在情况已不再是这样。理解喜好驱动因素的关键是研究产品和个人之间的相互作用。该计划将研究口腔中的分子相互作用，因为它们与健康的全谷物产品的感官特性有关。全谷物含有多酚，已知具有抗氧化潜力的植物化学物质。然而，这些多酚也通过赋予涩味的感觉而对产品的味道产生负面影响。涩味的产生是由于多酚与唾液蛋白发生反应而在口腔中产生的一种软化作用。虽然这种反应在葡萄酒中得到了广泛的研究，但在食用其他富含多酚的食物（如全谷物）时，对蛋白质-多酚相互作用的了解较少。我们将进行感官研究，以衡量涩的感觉，使用一种新的感官评价方法称为时间优势的感觉。利用这种技术，我们将记录在消费低分子量多酚水溶液期间发生的主要感官特性。将这些感官结果与蛋白质-多酚相互作用的仪器测试进行比较，以确定低分子量多酚中涩味形成的机制。最后，我们将研究在不同的热加工条件下多酚和基本味觉刺激之间的相互作用。 通过这项研究，我们将扩大目前现有的模型的涩味的感觉，并建立了基础，为未来的研究过程和成分的相互作用影响的感官反应的食物。

Taste and health are two of the most important factors affecting consumer liking of products. Historically, there has been a trade-off between these two factors, with consumers willing to forgo taste for health. This is no longer the case. Key to understanding drivers of liking are studies into interactions between the product and the individual. This program will study in-mouth molecular interactions as they relate to sensory properties of healthy, whole grain products. Whole grains contain polyphenols, phytochemicals known to have antioxidant potential. However, these polyphenols also contribute negatively to the taste of products by imparting the sensation of astringency. Astringency occurs due to a delubrication in the mouth as the polyphenols react with salivary proteins. Although this reaction has been extensively researched in wines, there is less known about protein-polyphenol interactions during consumption of other polyphenol rich foods such as whole grains. We will conduct sensory studies to measure the sensation of astringency using a new sensory evaluation approach known as temporal dominance of sensations. With this technique we will record the predominant sensory properties occurring during consumption of aqueous solutions of low molecular weight polyphenols. These sensory results will be compared to instrumental testing of the protein-polyphenol interactions to determine the mechanism of astringency formation in low molecular weight polyphenols. Lastly, we will study the interaction between polyphenols and basic taste stimuli under various thermal processing conditions. Through this research we will expand on the currently existing model of the sensation of astringency and establish the foundation for future research into processes and ingredient interactions affecting sensory responses to foods.