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Understanding taste and texture perception to enhance vegetable acceptance

Food selection and ingestion is affected by a multitude of sensory, economic, genetic, psychological and biological factors. Of these, taste is paramount, and humans have an innate preference for sweetness and aversion for bitterness; these are linked to vegetable acceptance. Sufficient vegetable intake offers many health benefits, however many populations fail to meet recommended guidelines. With the rise in diet-related disease, there is a need to better understand barriers to liking and intake. Here, we investigated predictors of vegetable liking in an American population, with a focus on taste and textural characteristics. Participants (n= 92) aged 18–40 years took part in this laboratory-based study. They were served broccoli, carrots and kale prepared in three ways (boiled, blended, raw). ‘Overall’ and ‘texture’ liking for each sample was rated on a general Labelled Magnitude Scale. Other ratings for a range of taste and textural properties were also obtained, and vegetable intake was measured. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS v20. Liking and self-reported intake are typically correlated; here, we found acute intake (in grams) was also correlated in with liking (Fig. 1). Generally, more bitterness decreased vegetable liking, whilst more sweetness increased liking (p≤ 0·001). Fig. 2 depicts the mean sweetness and bitterness intensity for each vegetable group alongside its’ mean overall liking score. Additionally, preparation method and vegetable type both had a significant influence on overall liking (p< 0·001) (Fig. 3). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that over 60 % of the variation in overall liking scores could be attributed to the range of sensory taste and texture properties examined here (R Adj = 0·61, p≤ 0·001).