Sensory influences on food choice and energy intake

Foods and beverages comprise complex mixtures of volatile, nonvolatile, visual, structural, and irritant information that is detected by independent sensory systems and integrated into a single perceptual impression that informs food palatability and intake behavior. Sensory properties are operational before and during food intake, and have an early impact on acute energy selection and intake within a meal, often occurring long in advance of the endocrine or visceral signals that prompt the end of a meal. Satiation describes the processes associated with meal termination, and the key factors that affect the onset of satiation likely determine how much a person consumes within a given eating occasion. Food choice and energy-intake decisions are more strongly influenced by the sensory and cognitive aspects of eating than the underlying macronutrient properties of the food being consumed, yet chronic disease and ill-health are driven by prolonged exposure to diets that have poor nutritive properties and high energy density. To develop effective treatments for diet-related chronic conditions such as obesity, we need to understand what motivates people to overeat, and how food choice and intake are regulated by the integrated sensory responses to foods’ physical and sensory properties. Considering sensory cues as a “functional” feature of the foods and beverages we consume provides new opportunities to identify how sensory enhancement could be combined with reductions in energy density in the foods we enjoy eating, to optimize short-term energy intake regulation and promote satisfaction without excessive intakes. This chapter summarizes the recent developments in our understanding of how sensory properties from smell, taste, and texture influence the foods we select and consume.