Sensory Specific Desires Affect and are Affected by Actual Snack Choice

Mette Duerlund,

Published on: 2021-02-16

Abstract

Background and Aims: Snacking contributes to additional calories on top of what is consumed during meals. To better understand drivers of snack choice, we investigated subjective appetite and sensory specific desires (SSD). The overall purpose of this study was to 1) Study the effects of subjective appetite sensations on actual snack choice, 2) Study if SSDs were affected by actual choice and intake of snack.

Methods: A total of 112 participants answered a questionnaire about subjective appetite and chose one of two snacks: chips, representing a salty sensory taste profile or chocolate, representing a sweet sensory taste profile.

Results: Results revealed that an interaction between Salty desire and Sweet desire showed significant effect for both snack choice options. Results further revealed a significant decrease in Salty desire only after chips intake (salty taste profile) and a significant decrease in Sweet desire only after chocolate intake (sweet taste profile). Sweet desire remained the same for chips choosers and Salty desire remained the same for chocolate choosers.

Conclusions: Findings demonstrate the power of food choice to alter and to fulfil sensory desires. It is concluded that SSDs are important drivers of actual snack choice and that snacks having the desired sensory characteristics can satisfy these desires upon consumption. These findings provide further insights into the role that SSDs play in snacking behavior.

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