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

口感和健康是影响消费者对产品喜好的两个最重要因素。从历史上看，这两个因素之间一直存在权衡，消费者愿意放弃健康的品味。情况已经不再是这样了。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，这是一种已知具有抗氧化潜力的植物化学物质。然而，这些多酚也会给产品带来苦涩的感觉，从而对产品的味道产生负面影响。收敛是由于口腔中的多酚与唾液蛋白发生反应而引起的。虽然这种反应在葡萄酒中已经得到了广泛的研究，但对于全谷物等其他富含多酚的食物的消费过程中蛋白质与多酚的相互作用却知之甚少。我们将使用一种新的感官评估方法进行感官研究，以测量收敛的感觉，这种方法被称为感觉的时间优势。使用这项技术，我们将记录在食用低分子多酚的水溶液时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，以确定低分子多酚中收敛形成的机制。最后，我们将研究不同热处理条件下多酚类物质与基本味觉刺激之间的相互作用。通过这项研究，我们将扩展目前存在的涩感觉模型，并为未来影响食物感觉反应的过程和成分相互作用的研究奠定基础。

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.