Sweet taste perception is greater in non-Hispanic black than in non-Hispanic white adults

Abstract

Objective: Research suggests a difference in sweet taste perception between non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) adults, but limited research has examined sweet taste perception in relation to dietary intake of sweet products. Research Methods and Procedures: This cross-sectional study examined the association between race, sweet taste perception and sweet food, beverage, and sugar consumption in healthy, NHB and NHW adults. Seven-day food records were analyzed in Nutrition Data System for Research software. Intensity of sweet taste perception was tested and the general Labeled Magnitude Scale method was used to facilitate group comparisons. Independent T-tests, Mann-Whitney tests and Pearson correlations were used to assess associations. Results: Subjects were NHB (n=98) and NHW (n=90) adults, aged 41±1 years (mean ± SEM) with energy intake of 2271±53 kcals. BMI was higher in NHB than NHW (36±1 kg/m 2 vs. 32±1 kg/m 2 , p=0.048), but no differences were observed in age, energy consumption, or total sugar intake. Sweet taste perception rating ((median (IQR) NHB: 73.5(63.9-83.0), NHW: 52.1(46.4-57.7); p=0.001) and added sugar intake (NHB: 39.4g/1000kcal (36.3-42.4), NHW: 30.0g/1000kcal (26.7-33.4); p=<0.001) were greater in NHB. Perceived sweet taste intensity was positively associated with consumption of servings of sweet products among NHB (R 2 =0.057, p=0.018), but not NHW (R 2 =−0.012, p=0.314).

Exploring the relationships between taste phenotypes, genotypes, ethnicity, gender and taste perception using Chi-square and regression tree analysis

“…Perceived intensity of taste and other oral sensations has been shown to vary greatly among individuals and may be one of the most important determinants of food preference and consumption affecting nutritional and health status (Stewart et al, 2010, Ullrich et al, 2004. Many factors have been shown to affect perceived taste intensity perception such as health status (Overberg et al, 2012, Berteretche et al, 2004, age (Bilash et al, 1959, Mojet et al, 2001, Monteleone et al, 2017, Vignini et al, 2019, gender (Hirokawa et al, 2006, Michon et al, 2009, Bartoshuk et al, 1994, Monteleone et al, 2017, Vignini et al, 2019, ethnicity (Williams et al, 2016, Bowser et al, 2019, genetics (Kim et al, 2003b, Chen et al, 2009 and taste phenotypes (Yang et al, 2014, Bajec and Pickering, 2008, Dinnella et al, 2018, Yang et al, 2019. Findings, however, are often conflicting across different studies.…”

“…For example, some studies have found that women tend to be more sensitive to taste compared to men (Hirokawa et al, 2006), whilst other studies failed to reveal a significant effect (Chang et al, 2006, Melis et al, 2013. In general, some significant effects of ethnicity on perceived taste intensity have been observed (Williams et al, 2016, Bowser et al, 2019, but there is a lack of research comparing Asian and Caucasian populations. It is worth noting that some of the earlier studies used a relatively small sample size, which could contribute to conflicting findings.…”

Genetic Variation and Sensory Perception of a Pediatric Formulation of Ibuprofen: Can a Medicine Taste Too Good for Some?

“…Further, we cannot rule out that different gLMS ratings and chemesthetic sensations for ibuprofen between individuals of African and European genetic ancestry may be due to nongenetic factors, as self-identified race/ethnicity is highly correlated with genetic ancestry. Research has shown that Americans who self-reported as Black most preferred significantly higher levels of sweetness [35] and had higher daily intakes of added sugar [36] than those who self-reported as White. While our evidence suggests that adults with African genetic ancestry perceived the pediatric formulation of ibuprofen differently than did those of European genetic ancestry, future association studies on taste and palatability need to include children and other age groups to determine the relative contributions of cultural-dietary, developmental, genetic, and epigenetic pathways [37,38].…”

The threshold of sweet taste recognition among a sample of Moroccan population

“…Further on, it was shown that another factor can influence the intensity of perception of the sweet taste, which is ethnicity. In fact, the study by Bowser et al (2019) revealed that the black participants have a greater intensity of sweet taste perception than whites:…”