Determination of oral sweet taste function and its association with food consumption and Body Mass Index (BMI)

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12613000701729

Enrollment

100

Registered

2013-06-26

Start date

2013-09-16

Completion date

2015-02-27

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Obesity is a major health issue that is currently affecting millions of Australians, in addition to having a high economic cost both in this country and around the world. Some individuals are more susceptible to obesity that others; one factor may be variance in taste system due to genetic and environmental factors such as diet. The present study aims to identify and investigate the associations between individual differences in sweet and carbohydrate taste sensitivity with diet and BMI. Proposal research design and methods: The study will involve 100 subjects. These participants will be over 18 years of age and within a BMI range of 18-35kg/m2. Participation in this study involves attending at least 16 laboratory sessions. The first three sessions will involve taste function assessment of the five basic taste qualities (Sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami). The remaining sessions will involve taste function assessment for different kinds of sugars, natural sweeteners and artificial sweeteners. Participants will be given a copy of the Cancer Council Food Frequency Questionnaire and a 7-day diet diary at baseline, and will be asked to complete them within one month of the sensory testing period. Subject's height, hip and waist circumference, and tongue swab for cell collection will be collected at baseline. Subject's weight will be measured twice, at baseline and at the final visit. The study will use a range of methods and will take place in Deakin University sensory laboratories. Sensory evaluations, including ascending detection and recognition thresholds (sample a series of eight solutions arranged in ascending order to determine taste thresholds) and ascending forced-choice test (correctly choosing a sample that has added sugars/sweeteners/starch at specific concentration) will be used to determine sweet and carbohydrate taste function.

Interventions

Participants in this project will be involved in various tests. Participants will be required to visit the Deakin University Sensory laboratory for at least 16 times (minimum of 2 visits per types of sugar/sweeteners). Subjects may experience: Visit 1: Food consumption and anthropometry. Participants will be asked to complete a Cancer Council food frequency questionnaire and a 7-day diet diary at home within 1 month of the sensory tests. Height, weight, waist and hip circumference will be measured at baseline. Weight and waist and hip circumference will be measured again at the end (final session). Sweet taste receptors. Tongue swabs will be collected from participants to determine the sweet taste receptors. Visits 1-2: Determination of taste thresholds for the five basic tastes. Participants will be presented with a series of eight solutions for each tastants (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami), which will be arranged in ascending order of concentration. Participants will be asked to sample each solution, expel it after 10 seconds and then describe the taste of the solution. The process will be repeated twice (for visit 1-2) and will take approximately 1 hour 30 minutes for each visit. Visits 3-4: Suprathreshold (sufficient strength or quantity to produce a perceptible physiological effect) taste intensity perception for the five basic tastes. Subjects will be given a brief training session in the use of gLMS (General Labelled Magnitude Scale) (in ascending order). gLMS is a scale consists of a vertical line, used to measure perceived taste intensity. To test for intensity perception of the five basic tastes, participants will be presented with numbered trays that contained 4 randomized solution for each taste quality. This will be repeated twice (for visits 3-4). Visits 3-4 will take about 50 minutes each, depending on their taste sensitivity. Visits 5-6/ 7-8/ 9-10/ 11-12/ 13-14/ 15-16: Taste thresholds for glucose, fructose, sucrose, sucralose, and Rebaudioside A (Stevia) Each participant will be blinded (they will not know which sweetener/sugar they are tasting), and the order for tasting will be different for each participant. Detection and threshold for sweeteners will be tested using ascending triangle forced-choice procedure. Participants will be provided with 3 samples (2 controls) per set, in ascending order from lowest to highest concentration. Following that, participants will be tested on their suprathreshold intensity perception for different kind of sweeteners/sugars. This procedure will be similar to the one described above (visits 3-4). Each visit will take about 20-40 minutes, depending on the sensitivity of the individual. Extra visits will be required if they were discrepancies (20-30% differences) between the results. Each session will be separated by a minimum of a day.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to 85 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

over the age of 18 years of age

Exclusion criteria

smokers and BMI below 18 and above 35

Outcome results