Food Taste Preferences - Case Study Example

Food taste preferences Name: Unit: Course: Professor: Submission Date: Introduction Food choices with a major focus on gender differences has gotten much attention on various research for over many years. A food choice is affected by myriad of factors that affect human behavior differently, thus drawing their decision to certain food product choices rather than others. For over many years food intake and food choice depended on the body needs. However, with modernization, both cultural, social, emotional, physiological, genetic profiles and other biological mechanism needs drive a desire to have a certain food variety unlike the other. Various food chemical and physical components may trigger decision on food choices preferences through sensory perception. However, a sensory perception on a particular food choice may not always mean that the person is going to consume that food. Rather, the person’s liking for a specific attribute in a particular food will influence his/her choice. Additionally, other factors linked to the food and the person can trigger some food choice decision for instance; demographic, religious, cultural, social and marketing variable. Food choices can also be made depending on the context a factor which depends on the company, place and time (Arganini, Saba, Comitato et al., n.d. pp84-85). There are various studies which have tried to establish the relationship of sweet and salty intake among genders in various nations. However, no study that has investigated the impact of time on the intake of either sweetness or saltiness diet intake, across nations. Thus this cross-cultural study aimed at finding out the influences of gender in consumption of salty diet and sweet diet, in different nations and the influence of time in their consumption. Objectives i. To investigative the difference in gender in consumption of sweet, sour or salty diets. ii. To investigate the variation in intake of salty, sour or sweet diets in various nationalities. iii. To find out whether time impact sweet diet or salty diet intake among the cases. Hypothesis This research sets out one hypothesis. Literature review There is wealthy information that shades light on the reasons why men and women prefer some food choices unlike others. For example hearty portion, alcohol, meat more so the red meat is highly linked with masculinity while sour dairy products such as yoghurt, fish, fruit and vegetables are linked with the feminity. In another study carried out in Hazda; Tanzania did show that women preferred berries more compared to their male counterparts who preferred meat more. Within the Modern society of America, food choice is currently driven by weight management and health needs ( Arganini et al., n.d. p 85 A body of research using a self-report questionnaire was carried out by the International Health and Behavior survey to investigate various health behaviors for 19298 students in the university level from 23 countries. From all the 23 nations, there was increased rate of women reporting to avoid food with high fat levels, that they eat fruit and fiber-rich foods daily. There was no difference in the intake of salt, although in 6 countries women were the most consumers of salt than men. In another study, in UK of 1024 adults, women were found to consume more vegetables and fruits compared to men. In another study carried in Finland, the Netherlands and the UK did conclude that women compared to men prefer natural products and healthy eating. Thus, various studies did report that women than men are likely to consciously decide what they eat, in reference, to their health needs, the recommended dietary allowances and their contents (Arganini et al., nd. pp87). Currently, there is a noted increase in the intake of sweeteners in various food and drinks across all age groups. Various factors trigger sweetness desire such as gender, race and age. However, the amount preferred of sweetness in beverages and foods is much higher in children than adults. Also, studies support that men compared to women prefer higher amount of sweetness in variety of food and drink products compared to women. Sweetness preference was also seen to change in between meals with more sweetness liking indicated prior to having meals as compared to after meals. This could be a good indicator of the response of the organism to energy demands before meals. Intake of sweet-tasting products triggers, “sensory-specific satiety,” which generally decreases the urge for sweet products. Ingestion of drinks and food with sugars brings about a reduction in pleasantness following sugars metabolic effect (Drewnowski, Mennela, Johnson et al., 2012 p4s). However, majority of studies show no significant difference in reference to sweetness intensity and preferences (Corbin, 2006 p10). Vabo and Hansen (2014 p146) did find that food choices are triggered by ethical concerns, familiarity, weight control, natural content, sensory appeal, mood, convenience, price and health. From various researches sensory appeal is a key determinant to the food choice that a person goes for at any given time. Salt on the other hand is a common seasoning essentiality in food. However, according to the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey in 2003 (MANS)among the Malaysians the study found that each day 29% or 2,575 mg of salt higher than recommended limit of 2010 of 2000mg or 5g a teaspoon by the Malaysian Dietary Guidelines is consumed. While this sounds much higher in the UK is 3700 mg/day, USA 3220-3680 mg/day and for other Asian countries is ≥4,738 mg/day. According to the MANS study, men compared to women did ingest 500mg higher amount, although consumption decreased with age. From the study salt consumption was high among those with better education with 2,734 mg/day found among those in college and university and among the Chinese community 2,916 mg/day in general (Choong, Balan,Chua et al., 2012 p238). Material and method The study main aim was to find out whether there exist any relationship between gender and the choices of food they make and whether there exist any nationality differences. The experimental study did use a sample of 20 male and 30 female cases from a population of 534; with 313 females and 221 males, from various nationalities table 1. All the cases were over 18 years of age. The study did use three taste preferences sweet, sour and salt. For the study, the researcher used Oreo for sweet bud taste experiment, sour candies for sour taste and salty crackers. The subjects were at liberty to take any choice of the taste preference as the researcher wrote down the observed experienced. The study was done in the morning and in the afternoon. The excel software was used to carry out the analysis and t-test was used to test the hypothesis set out in this study. The participants were at liberty to participant or leave the study at any point they found that they were not comfortable. Also, the participants were at liberty to give or use anonymity in place of their names. Data Analysis and Discussion Table 1: The Relationship between Nationality and Food Taste Food Taste Nationality Sweet Salty Sour Hong Kong 5 1 0 French 1 0 0 Argentina 1 0 0 Brazil 0 1 1 Japan 2 Portugal 2 Tanzania 1 Taiwan 1 Kuwait 1 Switzerland 1 Italy 1 Turkey 1 South Korea 1 China 2 Chile 1 Canada 1 Figure1: The Relationship between Nationality and Food Taste Table 1 show that in different nationalities, the greatest number of people prefers sweet food. The food preference varies across different countries with Hong Kong having the greatest number of people who prefer sweet food followed by Japan and Portugal. Contrary to Hong Kong, the food preference in China, Chile, Canada, and Italy tends to be towards sour food more than sweet and salty food. This study did differ with (Choong, Balan,Chua et al., 2012 p238) findings that the Chinese community, and Asian countries consume high amount of salts. This is because Hong Kong did indicate high sweet consumption rather than salt. Table 2: The Relationship between Gender and Food Taste in Different Countries Food Taste Gender Sweet Salty Sour Male 4 7 8 Female 17 4 9 Figure 2: The Relationship between Gender and Food Taste in Different Countries Further, in table 2 and figure 2, the food preference differs among the males and females. The females tend to prefer sweet food while the males prefer more salty and sour food. Unfortunately, these findings did not concur with (Arganini et al., nd. pp87), that women prefer salty diets than men. Also, the findings did differ with (Drewnowski, Mennela, Johnson et al., 2012 p4s) that most men than women prefer sweetness. Table 3: The relationship between time and food taste Food Taste Time Sweet Salty Sour Morning 7 9 9 Afternoon 15 2 8 Figure 3: The relationship between time and food taste From table 3 and figure 3, more sweet products were consumed in the afternoon compared with salty and sour product that were preferred in the morning in equal preferences. This information, was also different from other studies that (Drewnowski, Mennela, Johnson et al., 2012 p4s). Most findings in this study did differ with other researches significantly. Realizing the products used for the study, it can be argued that the intake of various food, though was seen to differ as per gender and nationality other key factors could have outweigh the choices made by the study sample. Such factors foreseen to have been key determinants are: ethical concerns, familiarity, sensory appeal and mood Vabo and Hansen (2014 p146). Hypothesis testing Using, t-test, the study did calculate the value of P; which equals p=0.22. According to studies, a value of p=0.05, is the standard alpha of rejecting a hypothesis. Thus, any p value above 0.05 shows the probability of accepting the hypothesis. Thus, with our study showing that p≥0.05 means that the hypothesis should be adapted (Testing Hypothesis, n.d). In this study, the set hypothesis did: confirm that there is a significant difference between men and women on their food taste preferences. H1: There is a significant difference between men and women on their food taste preferences. Conclusion A food taste preference is likely to differ in all groups of people, gender and nationality. Women are likely to take more salty products than men. Also, more sweet products are likely to be taken in the afternoon than in the evening. Food taste differs from country to another, a fact that can be supported figure 1. Recommendation This study did fall short of number of cases used and thus a large sample size should be used in the future. Also, it was a challenge to make a critical comment in regards to food preferences and the nationality. a large data would assist in making better conclusion. A further research should be done using other taste buds to help understand gender difference in taste buds. References Arganini C., Saba A., Comitato R., Virgili F. & Turrini A. n.d. Gender differences in food choice and dietary intake in modern western societies. Retrieved http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/36935.pdf 2/6/2016 Choong S. S., Balan S.N., Chua L., and Say Y. 2012. Preference and intake frequency of high sodium foods and dishes and their correlations with anthropometric of high sodium foods and dishes and their correlations with anthropometric measurements among Malaysian subjects. Nutr Res Pract, 6(3): 238-245. Retrieved http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395790/, 2/4/2016. Corbin C. 2006. Sex differences in taste preferences in humans. Retrieved, http://webs.wofford.edu/pittmandw/psy451/fall06CC.pdf, 2/4/2016. Drewnowski A., Mennella J.A., Johnson S.L. & Bellisle F. 2012. Sweetness and Food Preference. The Journal of Nutrition, 4s-7s. Retrieved http://jn.nutrition.org/content/early/2012/05/02/jn.111.149575.full.pdf, 2/4/2016. Testing Hypothesis n.d. Retrieved http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/43443_7.pdf, 2/4/2015 Vabo M. & Hansen H. 2014.The relationship between food preferences and food choice: a theoretical discussion. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(7):145-155 Read More