Food Oral Processing: Conversion of Food Structure to Textural Perception

Abstract

Food oral processing includes all muscle activities, jaw movements, and tongue movements that contribute to preparing food for swallowing. Simultaneously, during the transformation of food structure to a bolus, a cognitive representation of food texture is formed. These physiological signals detected during oral processing are highly complex and dynamic in nature because food structure changes continuously due to mechanical and biochemical breakdown coupled with the lubricating action of saliva. Multiple and different sensations are perceived at different stages of the process. Although much work has focused on factors that determine mechanical (e.g., rheological and fracture) and sensory properties of foods, far less attention has been paid to linking food transformations that occur during oral processing with sensory perception of texture. Understanding how food structure influences specific patterns of oral processing and how these patterns relate to specific textural properties and their cognitive representations facilitates the design of foods that are nutritious, healthy, and enjoyable.

The Basis of Food Texture Sensation in Drosophila

“…Food preferences are affected greatly by the qualities of food, including nutrient value, texture, and the taste valence of sweet, bitter, salty and sour qualities (Foster et al, 2011; Freeman and Dahanukar, 2015; Galindo et al, 2012; Joseph and Carlson, 2015; Koc et al, 2013; Liman et al, 2014). During the last fifteen years, many of the gustatory receptor proteins that participate in the discrimination of the chemical composition of food have been defined (Liman et al, 2014).…”

“…Viscosity and creaminess are typical textural features of liquid food, whereas hardness, crispiness, and softness are the main physical characteristics of solid food (Koc et al, 2013). Similar to food tastes, food texture provides important information concerning food quality including freshness and wholesomeness.…”

“…For instance, people prefer freshly baked bread with relatively soft texture, and tend to reject older bread with a harder texture, even though their chemical composition has not changed significantly over the course of a couple of days. Furthermore, while exploring the food landscape, an animal must make assessments of food hardness and viscosity in order to exert the appropriate force to chew or ingest (Foster et al, 2011; Koc et al, 2013). Insufficient chewing force results in poor food processing, while excessive force can cause injury to the tongue or teeth.…”

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“…Typically, hardness reflects compression of a food between molars; springiness reflects the rate at which a deformed material returns towards its original condition after the deforming force is removed; cohesiveness reflects the strength of the internal bonds and chewiness reflects the energy required to chew the solid food prior to swallowing (Koç et al, 2013). Palm stearin sausages had a lower instrumental hardness than the pork sausages (P<0.05).…”

Changes in sensory perception during aging

“…From a structural perspective, foods can be classified as fluid, semisolid, or solid (Koç et al, 2013). Such sensations are typically generated when a food is orally processed.…”