title: Taste intensity in the Beaver Dam Offspring Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the distribution of the perceived intensity of salt, sweet, sour, and bitter in a large population and to investigate factors associated with perceived taste intensity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects (n = 2,374; mean age, 48.8 years) were participants in the Beaver Dam Offspring Study examined during 2005 to 2008. Perceived taste intensity was measured using paper disks and a general labeled magnitude scale. Multiple linear regression was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean intensity ratings were: salt = 27.2 (standard deviation [SD] = 18.5), sweet = 20.4 (SD = 15.0), sour = 35.7 (SD = 21.4), and bitter = 49.6 (SD = 23.3). Females and those with less than a college degree education rated tastes stronger. With adjustment for age, sex, and education, stronger perceived sour and bitter intensities were related to current smoking (sour: B = 2.8, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.4 to 5.2; bitter: B = 2.8, 95% CI, 0.3 to 5.4) and lipid-lowering medications (sour: B = 5.1, 95% CI, 2.5 to 7.6; bitter: B = 3.2, 95% CI, 0.6 to 5.8). Alcohol consumption in the past year was related to weaker salt (B = -2.8, 95% CI, -5.3 to -0.3) and sweet intensity ratings (B = -2.3, 95% CI, -4.3 to -0.3), whereas olfactory impairment was associated with higher sweet ratings (B = 4.7, 95% CI, 1.4 to 7.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Perceived intensities were strongest for bitter and weakest for sweet. Sex and education were associated with each taste, whereas age did not demonstrate a consistent relationship. Associations with other factors differed by tastants, with current smoking and alcohol consumption being related to some tastes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53726-2336, USA. fischer@episense.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Cruickshanks
authors.forename: Carla R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Barbara E K
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: F Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Pankow
authors.forename: Guan-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Derek J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Snyder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000494:pharmacology; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013652:Taste Threshold; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary