Aromatic quality is one of the essential acceptability criteria of a food product, and nearly one-third of the food consumed by Europeans is currently flavoured. However, the relationship between release in the mouth of aroma compounds and their dynamics of perception is highly complex, notably because of interactions between the senses and probably other, as yet unknown, mechanisms.
The originality of this work, based on the concepts of process engineering, resided in describing the transfers of matter that occur in the mouth and upper respiratory tract of humans during the consumption of a semi-liquid food, in this case flavoured, stirred yoghurt.
The mathematical model thus developed is based on a realistic and macroscopic description of the physiology of swallowing. By comparison with experimental data obtained from in vivo measurements (cf. illustrations), the model was able to predict satisfactorily the relative concentrations of the three aromatic compounds studied (acetate, butyrate and ethyl hexaonate) in two types of stirred yoghurt and three individuals.
The model can determine the relative importance of different parameters related to the product (e.g. viscosity), to the aromatic component (e.g. volatility) or to the consumer (e.g. volumes of the nasal and oral cavities, saliva flow rate or respiratory rate). It could thus guide experimental work towards the most influential parameters, in order to better understand the mechanisms involved.
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Experimental system to measure the concentration of aromatic compounds (in vivo) in the nasal cavity of a subject consuming a flavoured product (APCI MS: Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization followed by Mass Spectrometry) – INRA-ENESAD Joint Research Unit for Flavour, Vision and Consumer Behaviour – FLAVIC. Dijon Research Centre.
Correspondence between the ethyl hexaonate concentration predicted by the model (black line) and the concentration measured in the nasal cavity of the subject (red dots). Respiratory rate of the subject reconstituted according to the acetone concentration measured in the expired signal (green line).
In the short term, this model for the simulation of aroma release in the mouth will be improved. Advances in instrumentation should enable validation of the model for concentrations in absolute values and not just as relative data. The model will be validated and extended to cover a large number of aromatic compounds, other products (semi-solid or liquid) and a large number of individuals, representative of a population.
This achievement provides a basis for the academic study of mechanisms but may also give rise to tools that will assist in the design of foods in an industrial setting. Understanding and predicting the generation of stimuli in the mouth as a function of products and individuals may also be of value to clarifying the mechanisms that regulate nutrition (food intake and digestion).
References:
TRELEA I.C., ATLAN S., DELERIS I., SAINT-EVE A., MARIN M., SOUCHON I. (2008) Mathematical model for in vivo aroma release during consumption of semi-solid food, Chemical Senses , 33(2) 181-192.
SAINT EVE A., MARTIN M., GUILLEMIN H., SEMON E., GUICHARD G., SOUCHON I. (2006), Flavored stirred yogurts structure affects the real-time aroma release and the temporal sensory properties during eating. J. Agric. Food Chem., 54, 7794-7803
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