Palatability and Postprandial Sensations

Factors to Determine the Responses to Meal Ingestion: Palatability

Aim: to determine the effect of palatability on the cognitive (satiation/fullness) and emotive (digestive well-being/mood) responses to meal ingestion. The postprandial responses to conventional (potato and cheese cream followed by vanilla cream) versus unconventional test meals (mixture of both creams) with identical composition (350 Kcal) and physical characteristics (colour, texture, consistency, temperature) but distinctively different palatability will be studied on a cross over-design. The responses to the meals will be tested on 2 different days.

Participants (22 non-obese healthy men) will be instructed to eat a standard dinner the day before, to consume a standard breakfast at home after overnight fast, and to report to the laboratory, where the test meal will be administered 5 h after breakfast. Studies will be conducted in a quiet, isolated room with participants sitting on a chair. Perception will be measured at 5 min intervals 10 min before and 20 min after ingestion and at 10 min intervals up to 60 min after the probe meal.

Inclusion Criteria:

• non obese

Exclusion Criteria:

• history of gastrointestinal symptoms
• prior obesity
• use of medications
• history of anosmia and ageusia
• current dieting
• alcohol abuse
• psychological disorders
• eating disorders