Výskumný ústav potravinársky

Jakus, T. – Šik Novak, K. – Bogataj Jontez, N. – Mohorko, N. – Pražnikar J. – Jenko Pražnikar, Z.
Exploring taste sensitivity variation across different dietary patterns: a cross-sectional study
Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, 64, 2025, č. 1, s. 38-49

Tadeja Jakus, Department of Nutritional Counseling – Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Primorska, Polje 42, 6310 Izola, Slovenia. E-mail: tadeja.jakus@upr.si

Original article
Received 16 July 2024; 1st revised 11 December 2024; accepted 12 December 2024; published online 27 February 2025.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64122/RVTP4371

Súhrn: Recent literature suggests that a specific diet can alter taste sensitivities, but little is known about how dietary patterns, excluding whole food groups from the diet (low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets (LCHF), vegan) relate to taste sensitivity. Eighty-two healthy participants were categorized into four groups: omnivore (n = 22), vegan (n = 29), vegetarian (n = 17) and LCHF (n = 14). For all participants, detection thresholds (DT) for four tastes were determined based on the three-alternative forced-choice method. K-means clustering of DTs for tastes was performed and the nearest neighbor classifier was applied to predict taste sensitivity in clustering classes. There were differences between dietary patterns, nutrient intakes and biochemical values (p < 0.05), but no significant differences in DTs for tastes between the dietary pattern groups. Cluster analysis of tasters identified four taste sensitivity profiles. Based on our model, a combination of 30 variables from four categories predicted a person’s taste perception cluster with 72% accuracy. Our findings reveal a multifaceted interplay of factors shaping an individual’s taste sensitivity. With the exception of vegetarians, participants with other eating habits were in the majority categorized in the cluster of „good taster“.

Kľúčové slová: taste sensitivity; omnivorous diet; plant-based diet; fat diet; detection threshold

Na stiahnutie:
  jfnr-2025-1-pp038-049-jakus.pdf (PDF, 359 Kb, 391x)