Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Modifying salt taste perception, preference, and intake in individuals with smell loss - PROJECT SUMMARY Individuals who suffer from a diminished or lost sense of smell (Hyposmia/Anosmia) consistently report food to be bland and less palatable, resulting in a reduction in diet quality and quality of life. Despite these reports, we have limited knowledge about how smell loss influences food perception and preferences from experimental studies. As a result, there is minimal dietary guidance for H/A individuals. H/A individuals self-report preferring saltier foods and increasing their salt intake to compensate for the loss of smell-mediated food flavors. However, salt consumption already exceeds recommended levels in 90% of the population and contributes to cardiovascular disease; further increasing sodium intake can have broad, negative health implications. Documenting salt preferences and intake using validated measures will help guide future research on improving food liking and diet quality in H/A individuals. This proposal will (1) assess differences in salt taste preferences, salt intake, and appetite between H/A individuals and those with a normal sense of smell (normosmic) and (2) determine the acute effects of capsaicin on flavor, liking, and salt taste intensity in H/A compared with normosmic individuals. Aim 1 will measure (a) salt taste intensity using general Labeled Magnitude Scales, (b) liking using Labeled Hedonic Scales, (c) salt taste preferences using the Monell Forced- Choice Paired Comparison Tracking Procedure, (d) sodium intake via 24-hour urine samples, and (e) appetite using the Power of Food Scale in H/A individuals with long-term smell loss (>12 weeks) compared with normosmic individuals. These data will help guide future strategies to improve diet quality in H/A individuals. Aim 2 will test whether capsaicin can boost salt taste intensity in this population, thus establishing a sensory strategy to avoid excess salt for flavor by using the same scales to measure salt intensity, overall flavor, and liking. This will provide a sensory strategy to reduce salt intake and improve diet quality specifically for H/A individuals, filling this critical information gap. This research aims to understand food preferences and perception related to smell loss and reduce salt intake, which has implications for diet quality and risk for cardiovascular disease, which aligns with priority areas 2 and 4 for the NIDCD. The concurrent training plan in psychophysics and sensory measurement will complement my training in nutrition science to support my long- term research goal of identifying sensory strategies to improve diet quality and reduce the risk for chronic diseases.
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