The purpose of this study is to determine how repeated dietary exposure to umami taste affects umami taste perception, hedonics, food preferences, and satiety. Healthy adult subjects will consume a low glutamate vegetable broth daily for one month, where the experimental group's broth is supplemented with the umami-rich stimuli of monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the control group's low glutamate broth is matched for sodium (NaCl). The investigators hypothesize that repeated dietary exposure to umami taste will: 1. diminish umami suprathreshold intensity perception and hinder the ability to discriminate varying MSG concentrations 2. decrease liking of umami-rich foods and shift preferences upwards towards more intense umami stimuli 3. decrease satiation and decrease the satiating effect of a test meal
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
64
Subjects eat normal diet and consume 8 ounces of vegetable broth with added MSG one time per day for 1 month
Subjects eat normal diet and consume 8 ounces of low glutamate vegetable broth without MSG (sodium-matched with NaCl) one time per day for 1 month
Change in umami taste intensity perception
Subjects rate the umami intensity of aqueous solutions and foods on the general Labeled Magnitude Scale before and after a month-long dietary supplementation to determine how perception changes with repeated exposure to umami taste
Time frame: 1 month (at baseline and post intervention)
Change in umami taste discrimination
Subjects rank solutions of varying umami intensity before and after a month-long dietary supplementation to determine how perception changes with repeated exposure to umami taste
Time frame: 1 month (at baseline and post intervention)
Change in umami liking and preference
Subjects rate liking and preference in a variety of umami-rich foods before and after a month-long dietary supplementation to determine how liking and preference of umami-rich foods changes with repeated exposure to umami taste
Time frame: 1 month (at baseline and post intervention)
Change in liking and wanting of high protein foods
Subjects complete the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire before and after a month-long dietary supplementation to determine how explicit liking and implicit wanting of high-protein foods changes with repeated exposure to umami taste
Time frame: 1 month (at baseline and post intervention)
Change in satiation
Subjects consume a test meal and the amount of food eaten is measured before and after a month-long dietary supplementation to determine how satiation from a test meal differs after repeated exposure to umami taste
Time frame: 1 month (at baseline and post intervention)
Change in satiety
Subjects consume a test meal and rate appetite sensations on a visual analog scale throughout the test meal before and after a month-long dietary supplementation. A satiety quotient will be derived from these values with the formula: Satiety Quotient = (rating pre-eating episode-rating post-eating episode) / (intake of eating episode) to determine how satiety changes with repeated exposure to umami taste
Time frame: 1 month (at baseline and post intervention)
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