The relation between BMI and diet appears to be mediated through dieting behaviors. Dietary counseling should focus on unhealthy dieting behaviors rather than only on direct advice on food use.

Sweet taste preferences are partly inherited. Chromosome 16p11.2 may harbor genetic variations that affect the consumption of sweet foods.

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Background: Sweet taste preferences are measured by several often correlated measures. Objective: We examined the relative proportions of genetic and environmental effects on sweet taste preference indicators and their mutual correlations. Design: A total of 663 female twins (324 complete pairs, 149 monozygous and 175 dizygous pairs) aged 17-80 y rated the liking and intensity of a 20% (wt/vol) sucrose solution, reported the liking and the use-frequency of 6 sweet foods (sweet desserts, sweets, sweet pastry, ice cream, hard candy, and chocolate), and completed a questionnaire on cravings of sweet foods. The estimated contributions of genetic factors, environmental factors shared by a twin pair, and environmental factors unique to each twin individual to the variance and covariance of the traits were obtained with the use of linear structural equation modeling.Results: Approximately half of the variation in liking for sweet solution and liking and use-frequency of sweet foods (49 -53%) was explained by genetic factors, whereas the rest of the variation was due to environmental factors unique to each twin individual. Sweet taste preference-related traits were correlated. Tetravariate modeling showed that the correlation between liking for the sweet solution and liking for sweet foods was due to genetic factors (genetic r ҃ 0.27). Correlations between liking, use-frequency, and craving for sweet foods were due to both genetic and unshared environmental factors. Conclusion: Detailed information on the associations between preference measures is an important intermediate goal in the determination of the genetic components affecting sweet taste preferences.

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Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effect of serving temperature on the pleasantness of microwave heated ready meals and meal components. Serving temperature clearly affected sensory attributes and the pleasantness of the meal components. However, while instrumental measurements had indicated large differences in temperatures between two microwave heated ready meals with different arrangement of meal components, the consumer panel perceived only small differences in some sensory attributes. Regardless of temperature differences, the overall pleasantness of the two microwave heated meals was judged to be similar. We concluded that serving temperature is critical for the pleasantness of food but, to the extent that it varied in microwave heating, it did not have a major impact on the overall pleasantness of the meal. Possibly in long‐term use, very uneven temperature distribution may become a nuisance and therefore, the arrangement of meal components with a more uniform temperature distribution is recommended.