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

口味和健康是影响消费者喜欢产品的两个最重要的因素。从历史上看，这两个因素之间存在权衡，消费者愿意放弃健康的味道。现在情况已经不同了。理解喜欢的驱动因素的关键是研究产品和个人之间的相互作用。这个项目将研究口腔内的分子相互作用，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，一种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产品涩味的感觉而对产品的味道产生负面影响。涩涩是由于多酚类物质与唾液蛋白发生反应时口腔内的润滑造成的。尽管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，蛋白质-多酚的相互作用却鲜为人知。我们将进行感官研究，使用一种新的感官评估方法来测量涩味的感觉，这种方法被称为感觉的时间优势。利用这种技术，我们将记录在低分子量多酚水溶液消耗过程中发生的主要感官特性。这些感官结果将与蛋白质-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，我们将研究不同热处理条件下多酚与基本味觉刺激的相互作用。通过这项研究，我们将扩展现有的涩味感觉模型，并为未来研究影响食物感官反应的过程和成分相互作用奠定基础。

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.