A new vision for the science of human flavor perception
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1
Yale University School of Medicine, Neurobiology, United States
The conference was organized and welcomed by Lisa Sasson, representing the NYU Steinhardt School and its Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Public Health in cooperation with the NYU School of Dentistry. As a co-organizer, I added my welcome, and explained how the many disciplines brought together in the conference constituted a new vision for the science of human flavor perception, which can be summarized by the term “neurogastronomy” (1).
The speakers and the disciplines they represent were bound together by several principles. First, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." This is understood to apply to most research in biology; here we wished to show that it applies especially to the human behavior of choosing foods to eat, a view put forward most prominently by Richard Wrangham based on his book "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human". We also wished to show that the sensory and motor apparatus of the mouth and nose need to be understood as adaptations through human evolution, as carefully documented by Daniel Lieberman, based on his recent "Evolution of the Human Head". Many of the speakers picked up this theme in their presentations. It is clear that an evolutionary framework must be part of understanding flavor and healthy eating.
A second principle was that "Flavor is not in the food; it is created by the brain". Just as color is created out of different wavelengths of light by neural processing mechanisms in our brains, so is flavor created by neural processing mechanisms out of different molecules emitted by the food and drink in our mouths. This requires understanding neural mechanisms at all levels of organization of the brain, a vast field that our conference only began to address, starting with the sensory receptors and sensory systems as discussed by Gary Beauchamp for taste and Stuart Firestein for olfaction. Current research reported by Ivan De Araujo on sugars is dissociating their sweet flavor from their energy content to reveal dopamine pathways that function as energy sensors independent of taste. Anthony Sclafani reported how post-ingestive sensors of sugar, fat and protein in the gut can stimulate or reduce appetite and condition flavor preferences. These and other contributions showed how essential it is to have both animal and human experimental approaches to these difficult problems.
How modern foods target brain circuits to stimulate eating was addressed in experiments in humans reported by Dana Small: high energy-dense foods stimulate dopaminergic brain reward circuits and metabolic effects even in the absence of hunger to an extent never experienced during human evolution. Neuroscience research on obesity and food addiction are finding that the brain regions activated by cravings for food are similar to those activated by drug addiction. The importance of early experience in establishing food and flavor preferences was addressed by Julie Mennella and Leah Birch. They highlighted the critical role of parents in shaping preferences that favor fresh fruits and vegetables against processed sweet, salt and fat foods through strategies including familiarization, associative processes, and observational learning.
A third principle was the common goal of applying flavor science to achieve better nutrition and public health. This reflected the fact that the conference took place within the unique framework of food studies, nutrition and public health provided by the NYU Steinhardt School and the College of Dentistry. It also reflected the fact that most of the participants are supported by the National Institutes of Health, which has the express goal of improving the health of the public. Highlighting this effort was the keynote speech by Michael Moss, introduced by Marian Nestle of the Steinhardt School. Building on his recent book "Sugar, Salt, Fat", Moss laid out in detail how the food producers manipulate these elements to hook consumers on high-caloric-density foods. The fact that these products are themselves the results of scientific experiments to determine the "bliss points" of flavor underlines how important it is for academic scientists to inform consumers about flavor research, as in this conference. As basic scientists, our hope is that the public can become as well informed as the producers, so that all can work together to shape food products to be more healthy. The large audience, including many students, indicated the time is ripe for a concerted effort toward this goal. Finally, a panel of food activists, chaired by Peter Esmond and including three leading NYC chefs - Bill Telepan, Michael Nischan and Jeremy Bearman – described their efforts not only to create prestigious restaurants but also to deliver food to tens of thousands of school children over the past few years, using practical principles of making healthy food with attractive flavors.
Acknowledgements
Our research is supported by the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders.
References
[1] Shepherd G.M. 2012. Neurogastronomy. How the Brain Creates Flavor, and Why It Matters. NY: Columbia University Press.
Keywords:
sensory receptors,
sensory systems,
sweet,
salt,
fat,
post-ingestive,
Appetite,
flavor preferences,
nutrition,
Obesity,
food critic,
food activists
Conference:
Science of Human Flavor Perception, New York, United States, 9 May - 9 May, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Abstract
Topic:
Science of Human Flavor Perception
Citation:
Shepherd
GM
(2015). A new vision for the science of human flavor perception.
Front. Integr. Neurosci.
Conference Abstract:
Science of Human Flavor Perception.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnint.2015.03.00010
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Received:
25 Jul 2014;
Published Online:
30 Jan 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Gordon M Shepherd, Yale University School of Medicine, Neurobiology, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, gordon.shepherd@yale.edu