Does modification of olfacto-gustatory stimulation diminish sensory-specific satiety in humans?
Alimentary sensory pleasure is an important factor in ingestive behavior. Renewal of olfacto-gustatory pleasure by introducing new foods or through seasoning of previously consumed food might increase intake.


OBJECTIVE
To explore whether sensory-specific satiety (SSS) for a food could be modulated, either by introducing a novel food or by a modification of sensory stimulation via seasoning the food just eaten.


METHODS
180 out of 242 subjects were distributed over 3 experiments involving ad libitum intake of one of 6 fresh foods (cucumber, tomato, pineapple, banana, peanut, pistachio). Blindfolded subjects reported their sensations for the foods on 3 parameters before and after intake of an olfactorily chosen food: Olfactory pleasure (OP), Specific appetite (SA) and Stimulus-Induced Salivation (SIS). EXP. 1: One chosen food was repeatedly presented orthonasally and rated before and after it was eaten. EXP. 2: A second food was olfactorily chosen and ingested after the first one. EXP. 3: The same food was offered again after seasoning.


RESULTS
2 min after ingestion, food intake was limited by SSS. OP, SA, SIS correlated with each other for eaten and non-eaten foods. OP for non-eaten foods increased (p<0.01) after ingestion of the chosen food to specific satiety. When the food just eaten was seasoned, OP increased (p<0.01) and led to additional intake (80% of first intake).


CONCLUSIONS
A reduction in SSS after introduction of a new flavor or after seasoning an ingested food was observed. Such a reduction has not previously been reported. This could hint at how food sensory variation leads to over-consumption.
Romer
Michael
M
Department of Clinical Neurology, AKH, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Wien, Austria.
Lehrner
Johann
J
Van Wymelbeke
Virginie
V
Jiang
Tao
T
Deecke
Lüder
L
Brondel
Laurent
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001066:Appetite; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009754:Nuts; D012472:Salivation / Q000502:physiology; D012528:Satiety Response / Q000187:drug effects*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D014675:Vegetables