Cargando…

Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia

Food neophobia, i.e., the aversion to novel foods, and olfaction are both factors strongly affecting food choices. Mounting evidence suggests a higher arousal towards food as a key factor underlying the reluctance to eat what is unfamiliar to us. As the role of olfaction behind this phenomenon is po...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Menghi, Leonardo, Khomenko, Iuliia, Pedrotti, Michele, Cliceri, Danny, Aprea, Eugenio, Endrizzi, Isabella, Cavazzana, Annachiara, Biasioli, Franco, Giacalone, Davide, Gasperi, Flavia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7689524/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33239637
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77428-w
_version_ 1783613879179280384
author Menghi, Leonardo
Khomenko, Iuliia
Pedrotti, Michele
Cliceri, Danny
Aprea, Eugenio
Endrizzi, Isabella
Cavazzana, Annachiara
Biasioli, Franco
Giacalone, Davide
Gasperi, Flavia
author_facet Menghi, Leonardo
Khomenko, Iuliia
Pedrotti, Michele
Cliceri, Danny
Aprea, Eugenio
Endrizzi, Isabella
Cavazzana, Annachiara
Biasioli, Franco
Giacalone, Davide
Gasperi, Flavia
author_sort Menghi, Leonardo
collection PubMed
description Food neophobia, i.e., the aversion to novel foods, and olfaction are both factors strongly affecting food choices. Mounting evidence suggests a higher arousal towards food as a key factor underlying the reluctance to eat what is unfamiliar to us. As the role of olfaction behind this phenomenon is poorly understood, we explored the associations between food neophobia and trait anxiety, olfactory functions (odor threshold, discrimination and identification) and retronasal aroma release from a reference food in a healthy cohort of 83 adult volunteers. We grouped participants in Low-Neophobics or neophilics (n = 35), Medium-Neophobics (n = 32) and High-Neophobics (n = 16) according to the widely recognized Food Neophobia Scale. Participants with higher neophobic tendencies were found to have marginally higher trait anxiety levels than neophilics (p = 0.10). A lower global olfactory functioning and odor discrimination abilities characterized High-Neophobics, while Medium-Neophobics showed a higher odor sensitiveness than Low-Neophobics. Lastly, High-Neophobics showed a lower extent of retronasal aroma release, likely due to a shorter duration of oral processing and higher anxiety-related physiological responses (such as breathing rate). In summary, this study supports the assumption that the conflicting relationship that neophobics have with food may be led by higher levels of arousal toward foods, rather than different chemosensory functions.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7689524
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-76895242020-11-27 Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia Menghi, Leonardo Khomenko, Iuliia Pedrotti, Michele Cliceri, Danny Aprea, Eugenio Endrizzi, Isabella Cavazzana, Annachiara Biasioli, Franco Giacalone, Davide Gasperi, Flavia Sci Rep Article Food neophobia, i.e., the aversion to novel foods, and olfaction are both factors strongly affecting food choices. Mounting evidence suggests a higher arousal towards food as a key factor underlying the reluctance to eat what is unfamiliar to us. As the role of olfaction behind this phenomenon is poorly understood, we explored the associations between food neophobia and trait anxiety, olfactory functions (odor threshold, discrimination and identification) and retronasal aroma release from a reference food in a healthy cohort of 83 adult volunteers. We grouped participants in Low-Neophobics or neophilics (n = 35), Medium-Neophobics (n = 32) and High-Neophobics (n = 16) according to the widely recognized Food Neophobia Scale. Participants with higher neophobic tendencies were found to have marginally higher trait anxiety levels than neophilics (p = 0.10). A lower global olfactory functioning and odor discrimination abilities characterized High-Neophobics, while Medium-Neophobics showed a higher odor sensitiveness than Low-Neophobics. Lastly, High-Neophobics showed a lower extent of retronasal aroma release, likely due to a shorter duration of oral processing and higher anxiety-related physiological responses (such as breathing rate). In summary, this study supports the assumption that the conflicting relationship that neophobics have with food may be led by higher levels of arousal toward foods, rather than different chemosensory functions. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-11-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7689524/ /pubmed/33239637 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77428-w Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Menghi, Leonardo
Khomenko, Iuliia
Pedrotti, Michele
Cliceri, Danny
Aprea, Eugenio
Endrizzi, Isabella
Cavazzana, Annachiara
Biasioli, Franco
Giacalone, Davide
Gasperi, Flavia
Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia
title Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia
title_full Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia
title_fullStr Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia
title_full_unstemmed Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia
title_short Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia
title_sort arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7689524/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33239637
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77428-w
work_keys_str_mv AT menghileonardo arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT khomenkoiuliia arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT pedrottimichele arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT cliceridanny arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT apreaeugenio arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT endrizziisabella arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT cavazzanaannachiara arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT biasiolifranco arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT giacalonedavide arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia
AT gasperiflavia arousalinfluencesolfactoryabilitiesinadultswithdifferentdegreeoffoodneophobia