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![“Flavor”
Taste impulses proceed
further to their cortical
areas, where they interact
with all the other sensory
representations at the core
of flavor.
(Adapted from G. M. Shepherd, Smell images and the flavour system in the human brain, Nature 444 [2006]: 316–321)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/flavor-141029203746-conversion-gate01/85/Flavor-18-320.jpg)
Uploaded byRuss Lhommedieu
Flavor
This document discusses the perception of flavor from a neurological perspective. It defines taste as sensations detected by the tongue alone, while flavor is a multisensory perception incorporating taste, smell, sight, sound, temperature, and even pain. Smell is particularly important for flavor, with retronasal smell crucial for complex flavors. Enzymes play a key role in breaking down foods and releasing volatile molecules that stimulate our flavor receptors. The Maillard reaction is highlighted for its role in producing the attractive smells of cooked meat. Everything from texture to temperature to the sizzle of food contributes to the full flavor experience in the brain.
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Flavor
- 1. Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu Dr. Russ L’HommeDDiPeTu DPT
- 2. Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu Dr. Russ L’HommeDDiPeTu DPT
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- 5. Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu DPT Disclosures • http://sccbookrecs.askdocruss.com
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- 7. Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu DPT Disclosures • http://sccbookrecs.askdocruss.com • www.loseweightforgood.org
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- 9. Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu DPT Disclosures • http://sccbookrecs.askdocruss.com • www.loseweightforgood.org • www.iloveyoutohealth.com • Business coaching / consulting • www.askdocruss.com
- 10. Always Know theQuestion Why are you here?
- 11. The Obesity Epidemic The food industry has gotten a bad rap for their role in the obesity crisis.
- 12. The Obesity Epidemic The food industry has gotten a bad rap for their role in the obesity crisis. Do they deserve it?
- 13. The Obesity Epidemic Good Chefs can no longer get by on loading food up with fat, sugar and salt and Great chefs NEVER have. ~Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu
- 14. Always Know theQuestion How does “Flavor” Differ from “Taste”?
- 15. “Taste” Molecules sensedby receptors on the tongue. The neurons of the different tastes go right to the brainstem and are hardwired to emotions. a. Saltiness is essential for maintaining salty body fluids.. b. Sweetness is innate in all mammals, because of sugar’s high energy. c. Sourness warns of food that may have gone bad. d. Bitterness warns of toxic substances that should be rejected. e. Umami or Savoriness is a meaty quality, signaling a high-energy food. The problem is that “taste” does not account for all the flavor that we can experience. Outdated
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- 17. With only 126“tastes”, how do you explain . . . Wine Flavor Coffee Flavor
- 18. “Flavor” Taste impulsesproceed further to their cortical areas, where they interact with all the other sensory representations at the core of flavor. (Adapted from G. M. Shepherd, Smell images and the flavour system in the human brain, Nature 444 [2006]: 316–321)
- 19. While taste isa sensation of the tongue, flavor is a multisensory perception which includes taste, touch, smell, vision, emotion, hearing and even PAIN.
- 20. Taste is a Sensation
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- 22. Flavor is a Perception
- 23. While foods docontain molecules that provide us with flavor, the flavor is not in the food, it’s a perception that originates in our brain.
- 24. Why Does FLAVOR Matter?
- 25. Flavor Matters Because It drives human behavior
- 26. Why Does FLAVORMatter? “The human craving for flavor has been a largely unacknowledged and unexamined force in history. Royal empires have been built, unexplored lands have been traversed. . .” Eric Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
- 27. Why Does FLAVORMatter? “. . . great religions and philosophies have been forever changed by the spice trade. In 1492 Columbus set sail to find seasoning.” Eric Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
- 28. Why Does FLAVORMatter? “Today the influence of flavor in the world market-place is no less decisive. The rise and fall of corporate empires—of soft drink companies, snack food companies, and fast food chains—is frequently determined by how their products taste.” Eric Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
- 29. The Perception ofFlavor Taste Smell Temperature Sight Sound Pain
- 30. The Perception ofFlavor: Smell Two Types of Smell Orthonasal & Retronasal
- 31. The Perception ofFlavor Deconstructed: Smell • Orthonasal From Monell Chemical Senses Center
- 32. The Perception ofFlavor Deconstructed: Smell • Orthonasal From Monell Chemical Senses Center
- 33. The Perception ofFlavor: Smell • For flavor to be perceived, molecules need to reach the olfactory epithelium, located in the nasal cavity. This can be achieved through orthonasal (sniff) or retronasal (mouth) airways. • The intensity perceived will depend on the number of molecules that reach the receptor cells. • Which type of “smell” do you think is most important to flavor?
- 34. The Perception ofFlavor: Smell • Whereas taste is analytic, smell is synthetic. • What do you suppose this means?
- 35. The Perception ofFlavor: Smell • It means that smells combine and a mixture of several smells makes a new unified smell. • Knowing what you now know about smell and flavor, how might this relate to the complexity of human flavor perception?
- 36. Smell: Intramodal Enhancement • When two weak flavor molecules which cannot be sensed by themselves (sub-threshold), but together they can be perceived. • This works for taste and smell together. A weak smell and weak taste can be subthreshold by themselves, but together they can be sensed. • This usually only works if they complement each other. • This congruency may be innate, or it may be learned.
- 37. Smell: The Moleculesof Flavor • We humans actually have a sense of smell that is better than the most powerful molecule-detecting devices available. • We know this because we can perceive odors in a food that come from molecules in such trace amounts that they are undetectable by a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer.
- 38. The Perception ofFlavor: Plant Odors • Fruit. Ethylene (ethene) (C2H4) is a volatile molecule that plays a central role in the ripening of fruit. When we smell C2H4, we know the peak of ripening is occurring.
- 39. The Perception ofFlavor: Plant Odors • Terpene. These are five-carbon molecules that can take many forms. They are common constituents of plants as well as of fruits, herbs, and spices. The distinctive smell of pine trees in the forest is due to terpenes in the tree resins. They are highly volatile and therefore act quickly when raw vegetables are cut or chewed, and they are quickly lost in cooking. They are also highly reactive with each other and with other molecules. Adapted from: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
- 40. The Perception ofFlavor: Plant Odors • Sulfur. Sulfur-containing molecules often are produced by a plant for defensive purposes. They have an aroma with an “edge” that gives a “pungent” quality to the smell. Adapted from: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
- 41. The Perception ofFlavor: Plant Odors • Phenols. These are six-member carbon-ring molecules with a variety of side groups hanging off them. Different phenolic compounds are responsible for the main “notes” of different herbs and spices . Adapted from: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
- 42. The Perception ofFlavor: Plant Odors • Green. This aroma is faint until the plant tissue is torn apart, or cut, as by a knife, or chewed. These actions damage the cell membranes, causing an oxidizing enzyme called lipoxygenase (lipid = fat, oxygenase = to break down by combining with oxygen) to act on the fatty molecules that make up the cell membrane to break them down into small, volatile fatty acids, which are further dismantled by other enzymes in the cell contents. Adapted from: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
- 43. ENZYMES So, whatis the role of enzymes in producing flavor?
- 44. ENZYMES • Enzymesare super important for both flavor and digestion. • In fact, the process of digestion begins in the mouth with an enzyme in the saliva called amylase. • The enzyme amylase works to break down starch into simple sugars such as maltose and dextrin that can be further broken down in the small intestine. • Did you know that about 30% of starch digestion takes place in the mouth cavity.
- 45. ENZYMES So, whatis the role of enzymes in producing flavor? The role of enzymes in the perception of flavor is to break down large molecules in food into smaller molecules which alters their perception by the flavor system.
- 46. Meat • Accordingto Richard Wrangham in his book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, the great leap forward in the development not only human cuisines, but also the associated emergence of human culture and language, was the discovery of the use of controlled fire to cook foods. • The greatest effect was achieved by cooking meat. Our attraction to meat comes mostly from the smell, both orthonasal and retronasal, smell from ingested food in the mouth associated with flavor. • The most attractive volatile molecules from cooked meat are produced by the “Maillard reaction.”
- 47. Meat • TheMaillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring the addition of heat above 285°F (140°C). • This is a form of non-enzymatic browning where the sugar interacts with the amino acids in the meat. • This process accelerates in an alkaline environment. • This reaction is the basis of the flavoring industry, since the type of amino acid determines the resulting flavor.
- 48. The Perception ofFlavor: Sight The sight of our food and drink before we consume it has a highly significant influence on how we judge its flavor.
- 49. The Perception ofFlavor: Sound The sound of our food as we eat it is an integral part of the flavor experience. Sizzle? Crunch?
- 50. The Perception ofFlavor: Feel Does food texture contribute to the flavor of food? The different types of touch that food and liquid produce in the mouth go to the brain to the cortex. The touch receptors in the mouth and tongue have an enormous representation in the cortex, which explains why the way our food feels in our mouth contributes so heavily to taste.
- 51. The Perception ofFlavor: Pain Pain commonly signals something to be avoided. Fish bones, for instance. While you would think that most people reject food that causes pain in the mouth, many people learn to LOVE the pain wrought by the capsaicin (N-Vanillyl-8- methyl-6-(E)-noneamide ) molecules. Where are they found? In chili peppers. This is an example of how the hardwired aversive behavioral responses at birth can be overcome by learning.
- 52. The Perception ofFlavor: Temperature The temperature of food has and effect on all the somato-sensory pathways for flavor.
- 53. What is themost important thing for you to know? When it comes to flavor, EVERYTHING counts. If you want happy customers, maximize the flavor (and thus the emotion) of their experience. Don’t cop out with French fries (High Fat, High Sugar, High Salt) Be creative, be smart and be professional!
- 54. Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu Dr. Russ L’HommeDDiPeTu DPT
Editor's Notes
- #32 Among these inputs, smell is unique in going directly to the olfactory cortex in the forebrain limbic system, where it forms distributed memories of the smell stimuli represented as odor objects. Within the limbic system the smell objects therefore have direct access to brain systems for memory and emotion. The olfactory cortex further projects to the orbitofrontal cortex at the front of the brain, where it connects to the highest centers concerned with the uniquely human capacities for judgment and planning.