Modulating taste and trigeminal sensations in food models to assess individual variations in sensory and hedonic responses to food

sensitivity to reward and PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) responsiveness were measured.Results: Sensory-hedonic responses to the food models were found to vary across participants and allowed to identify different groups.Two clusters were established for the apple juice differing in liking for the coolest sample: Moderate and Extreme Coolness Dislikers.Instead, three clusters were identified for the chickpea cream: 1) Sweet Likers e perceiving sweet as less intense in all samples and showing liking increments with increasing sweetness and decreasing sourness; 2) Sweet Dislikers e tended to perceive higher sweetness intensity and liking raised with increasing sourness and decreasing sweetness; 3) Inverted U-Shaped e with an optimum liking corresponding to intermediate concentrations.Clusters' differences were found in age and in sensitivity to reward, with Sweet Likers being the youngest and the most sensitive to reward.The approach allowed identifying the level of sensory properties that minimized rejection and maximized liking within and across clusters.Conclusions: The two food models will be adopted to study the effect of cancer therapy on taste perception and liking responses, for the development of tailor-made products well accepted by patients experiencing taste alterations.