Ajinomoto: Does information about ingredients affect the foods we eat?

Taste & flavor
Taste is one of the five basic human senses. According to Nicholas Ryba, Principle Investigator at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, USA, and one of the researchers responsible for discovering the umami taste receptors on the human tongue, this means that taste is built into the tongue and the brain, and we don’t learn taste based on experience. Proof of this is that newborn babies show a strong preference for sweet tastes within hours after they are born. Babies don’t need to learn what “sweet” means, or that they like it, and the reason is that the preference for sweetness is “hard-wired” into the human system. In a way, taste is an objective experience, detected on the tongue and processed by the brain.

On the other hand, according to Kathrin Ohla, Group Leader at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, flavor is a lot more complicated. The reason is that it involves all five of our senses – sight, sound, smell, touch, and of course, taste. This might sound counterintuitive at first, but consider this: would we enjoy coffee as much if it didn’t smell so good? Would we enjoy eating at a fancy restaurant if the food looked disgusting? Would an ice cream be as enjoyable if it were hard and warm instead of soft and cold?

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Yukiko Takatori, Ajinomoto’s General Manager for Science, Global Communications Department said: “Flavor is complicated. The reason is that it involves all five of our senses – sight, sound, smell, touch, and obviously, taste.”

In this sense, the Ajinomoto Group intends to continue challenging further deepening our technologies for deliciousness.

“Overall, by utilizing our leading-edge bioscience and fine chemical technologies and deliciousness technologies, and by delivering good and healthy food, the Ajinomoto Group contributes to the development of a healthy body,” explains Takatori.

It has been clarified that umami (or umami substance: glutamate, MSG) contributes to human health promotion and has nutritional benefits.

Examples are as follows:
•    Beyond enhancing flavor in foods, glutamates also help aid digestion and are a source of energy for our bodies.
•    Umami (MSG) is an effective way to reduce the levels of salt used in food while enhancing flavor.
•    Depending on what we eat, foods that contain MSG may help prompt digestion.
•    Glutamate can make a helpful contribution to nutrition for the elderly by making many foods more appetizing and appealing.
•    Glutamate is the dominant amino acid in breast milk and essential nutrition for baby.
•    The safety of MSG has been reaffirmed repeatedly by major food safety organizations.

Regarding kokumi, the Ajinomoto Group has successfully commercialized kokumi substance glutamyl-valyl-glycine. This enhances the five basic tastes that exist in the natural world, which are sweetness, bitterness, sourness, saltiness, and umami. Also, glutamyl-valyl-glycine increases the depth and breadth of flavor, thereby improving palatability. By incorporating this kokumi substance into consumer products, the group is working to improve its product value further.

“As the kokumi substance can enhance tastes while reducing the amount of fat, it allows for customers to enjoy delicious meals that are also low in fat. As such, this kokumi substance helps provide healthy foods to customers,” notes Takatori.

“To create the future of healthy diet, healthy aspects of umami and kokumi have important roles. Last year, the Ajinomoto Group set a nutritional policy aimed at creating social value from a nutrition point of view as a global food and seasoning company. This shows the basic idea of contributing to the physical and mental health through the business activities of the group. The nutrition policy stated the proposal of a healthy diet menu using flavor, especially umami (Policy Article 2). Based on our policy, the Ajinomoto Group creates a world of deliciousness and a healthy diet with our specialty, umami/kokumi ingredients and amino acids,” Takatori says.

To elucidate umami or umami substances, it is necessary to expand the research to the field of neuroscience, and there are still many things that we do not know yet, according to Takatori. “We are continuing further research on umami and umami substances for deliciousness and human health, and we may announce some performances newly in the future,” she states.

Involvement of the Five Senses in the Perception of Flavour
•    Hearing
•    Vision
•    Smell
•    Taste
•    Touch

 

Another critical component of flavor is experience, and this might be why people have such a wide range of opinions about which flavors we like and which ones they don’t. The more that a person is exposed to a taste, the more they report that they like it. This might help to explain why most people think their mother makes the best food in the world.

One factor that influences our perception of flavor is the expectation. When you bite into an orange, you expect it to be sweet and juicy and citrusy – conversely, if it tasted like chicken, you would probably spit it out. The influence of expectation on our food preferences and eating habits is very important when it comes to the information we communicate about food.

Why food information matters
Science has demonstrated that written and non-written information on food products elicits certain expectations in the person who will consume the food, which in turn influences our perception of flavor.

What do you expect if you see that a food has been labeled as “organic?” If you’re like most people, you expect that it will taste better, contain less fat, and contain more fiber.

In a study, subjects were given two containers of MSG. One was labeled “MSG,” and one was labeled “Umami.” And the one that was labeled “Umami” was reported to taste better. Similarly, subjects who were given a food labeled “low salt,” and then given the same food labeled “added salt,” reported that the flavor of the low salt variety was less intense. And finally, a frozen savory mousse had a bitter flavor to those who were told it was ice cream, and a pleasant taste to those who were told what it was really was.

The perception of flavor is very complicated. And the fact that scientific studies have repeatedly shown that it can be manipulated using information highlights the true responsibility of companies in the business of food and nutrition to ensure that people get information that’s fair and accurate. In short, unfair or inaccurate information can hurt the general public.