Oral nutritional supplements and taste preferences: 545 days of clinical testing in malnourished in-patients.
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.
Darmon
Patrice
P
Department of Clinical Nutrition, Geneva University Hospital, Avenue Micheli-du-Crest 24, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland.
Karsegard
Véronique L
VL
Nardo
Patrizia
P
Dupertuis
Yves M
YM
Pichard
Claude
C
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*