title: Oral nutritional supplements and taste preferences: 545 days of clinical testing in malnourished in-patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acceptability and intake of oral nutritional supplements are often suboptimal, partly because patients dislike flavour, texture or smell. We assessed the taste preferences about milk-based and fruit-juice typed supplements in malnourished in-patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and nine in-patients requiring oral nutritional support were assigned to consume four given supplements on four consecutive days, to answer a questionnaire based on a 10-point visual analogue scale (VAS) on acceptance/tolerance, and to choose their preferred product for the fifth day.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall pleasantness was significantly better for milk-based supplements than for sweet and salty fruit-juice typed products (on VAS: 6.2+/-3.1 versus 4.4+/-3.9, p<0.01 and 3.5+/-3.4, p<0.0001, respectively, when 1 meant "not at all" and 10 "very much"), whereas digestive tolerance was comparable. When offered together on day 5, milk-based products were more frequently preferred (81.6%) than fruit-juice typed supplements (18.4%, p<0.001). Among milk-based products, vanilla, coffee and strawberry had comparable good results, whereas chocolate was less chosen and neutral never. For fruit-juice typed products, tomato obtained better results than orange or apple.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Oral nutritional supplements are globally well-accepted and tolerated, but with variations according to categories and flavours that must be considered to improve compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Geneva University Hospital, Avenue Micheli-du-Crest 24, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Darmon
authors.forename: Véronique L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Karsegard
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nardo
authors.forename: Yves M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Dupertuis
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pichard
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D005526:Food, Formulated / Q000592:standards*; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008892:Milk; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*