Modifying the texture of foods for infants and young children

The first section of this chapter describes the evolutions in oral physiology (anatomical motor components, oral motor skills and feeding skills) in healthy children (< 3 years). The second section describes how each type of texture is accepted at each oral physiology stage, and how exposures to textures impact oral physiology development and acceptability of textures. The third section shows how the need to modify food texture for infant foods is addressed, through national regulations or recommendations from public health bodies, and describes practices of texture modification, based on national surveys and case reports (including baby-led weaning). The chapter is closed by a commentary o…

Assessing children’s food texture acceptance between the beginning of complementary feeding and the age of 36 months old: a French survey

National audience

The impact of mastication, salivation and food bolus formation on salt release during bread consumption

Health authorities recommend higher fibre and lower salt content in bread products. However, these basic ingredients of bread composition are multifunctional, and important changes in their content influence the texture, flavour and acceptability of the product. This study was designed to investigate the link between oral processing, bolus formation and sodium release during the consumption of four different breads that varied in composition and structure. Chewing behaviour was determined by surface electromyography, and salivation was quantified from the water content of the boluses collected. The kinetics of bread degradation during food bolus formation was characterised by measuring the …

Chewing bread: impact on alpha-amylase secretion and oral digestion

During chewing, saliva helps in preparing food bolus by agglomerating formed particles and initiates food enzymatic breakdown. However, limited information is actually available on the adaptation of saliva composition during oral processing of complex foods, especially for foods that are sensitive to salivary enzymes. We addressed this question in the context of starch–based products and salivary alpha-amylase. The objectives were two-fold: 1) determining if salivary alpha-amylase secretion can be modulated by bread type and 2) evaluating the contribution of the oral phase in bread enzymatic breakdown.Mouthfuls of three different wheat breads (industrial, artisan and whole breads) were chew…

In vivo measurement of tongue-palate pressure during semi-solid foods consumption

Mechanisms of oral processing depend on food properties. The mechanisms have been well described in the case of solid food products. However, those involved in the oral processing of soft foods have been less investigated so far. Soft foods are mainly subjected to compression and shearing movements between the tongue and the palate. The objective of this work was to measure tongue-palate pressure developed during the consumption of different commercial products varying in texture.

Role of saliva and oral processing in sensory perception of maltodextrin solutions

In human, food oral processing plays a role in our perception of taste, aroma and texture. This study aimed at investigating the role played by individual salivary flow rate and composition and oral mechanisms in the sensory perception of sweetened and thickened solutions. Thirty one subjects were selected with high differences in salivary flow rates and composition (protein concentration and amylase activity). They consumed twelve thickened solutions (varying independently in maltodextrin type (2), viscosity level (2) and sucrose level (3)) and rated the perceived thickness and sweetness intensities. After rating, boluses were collected in order to evaluate moistening by saliva. Residual o…

Impact of saliva and astringent compounds on tongue mechanical properties : an ex vivo investigation

International audience

Interactions texture-flaveur : mécanismes physico-chimiques ou mécanismes cognitifs ? Application à un gel laitier onctueux

Texture, taste and aroma are key components of the perceived quality of foodstuffs. Many studies showed that modifying one of thèse dimensions could modify the perception of another one. However it is not always clear whether thèse interactions could be attributed to physico-chemical or cognitive mechanisms. The présent work aimed at studying sensory interactions between texture, taste and aroma, in relation with the perception of creaminess, an indicator of food quality. A first step consisted in defining the creaminess concept using sensory and verbal approaches. This study highlighted three groups of consumers: creaminess was associated to texture for the first group, to texture and tast…

Development or artificial vision system to study jaw motion in children

National audience

Salt and fat contents influence the microstructure of model cheeses, chewing/swallowing andin vivoaroma release

The effects of the lipid/protein ratio (20/28, 24/24, 28/20) and salt content of model cheeses were investigated simultaneously with respect to chewing behaviour, swallowing events and in vivo aroma release. Chewing parameters were measured by electromyography. Swallowing events were recorded manually. In vivo aroma release was investigated using nose-space on-line atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation-mass spectrometry. The values for chewing activity and time before swallowing were higher with lower lipid/protein ratios and lower salt contents, due to the greater mechanical resistance of the model cheeses. The corresponding microstructure was made up of smaller and more circular fat dr…

Identification and quantification of volatile compounds responsible for bread’s aromatic profile

Bread’s texture and aroma are key factors influencing its acceptability by consumers.The main purpose of the present study was to characterize aroma compounds in three different French baguettes varying in their structural properties (density, hardness, size of alveoli and crumb’s heterogeneity). The volatile fraction of their crumb was isolated by Solvent Assisted Flavour Evaporation (SAFE) technique. Extracts were analysed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Aroma-active compounds were determined by GC-Olfactometry (GC-O) and results were processed with detection frequency method. A total of 81 compounds (pyrazines, lactones, furans, ketones, pyrroles, aldehydes, alcohols, ac…

Exposition et acceptabilité des textures lors de la période de diversification alimentaire

Salivary lipolysis Infant’s saliva lipolysis: relationships with age, milk and complementary feeding history

Salivary lipolysis Infant’s saliva lipolysis: relationships with age, milk and complementary feeding history. 5. international conference on food digestion

Role of mastication, salivation and food bolus formation on salt release during bread consumption

Role of mastication, salivation and food bolus formation on salt release during bread consumption. 2. international conference on Food oral processing: physics, physiology and psychology of eating

Changes in salt or fat contents of model cheese modify in vivo aroma release and eating

National audience

Comment bébé apprend à manger des morceaux : acceptabilité de la texture, développement des compétences masticatoires, effet de l'exposition à des aliments de différentes textures. Séminaire interne au Centre des Sciences du Goût à Dijon le 7 décembre 2018

A study on texture-taste-aroma interactions: physico-chemical and cognitive mechanisms

International audience; Texture–taste, texture–aroma and aroma–taste interactions were examined in custard desserts varying in viscosity (at identical composition), sucrose level and aroma nature. All reciprocal interactions were investigated, with each binary interaction addressed through an independent sensory study. Rheological, in vivo aroma release and sucrose release measurements were run in parallel to control for a possible physico-chemical origin of these interactions. Observed interactions were found to be dependent upon the nature of the sensory modalities involved; physico-chemical mechanisms could only in some instances entirely explain these interactions. Taste and aroma did n…

Development of artificial vision system to study jaw motion in children

National audience

Aroma cross-modal interactions with texture and taste in dairy products

Development of methods to study food oral processing in infants

International audience; Development of methods to study food oral processing in infants. 3. international conference on Food oral processing: physics, physiology and psychology of eating

Influence of type and amount of gelling agent on flavour perception : physicochemical effect or interaction between senses ?

International audience

Role of aroma–matrix interactions on perception of structured emulsions

The impact of the composition of spreads on in vivo aroma release and aroma perception was investigated using online proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and sensory methodologies. Consumption of model products spread on bread induced a significant increase in aroma release and better discrimination in aroma perception, compared to when the product was tasted pure from a spoon. Dynamic release of a series of 10 aroma compounds was slower with the increase in solid fat content, and the quantity decreased when proteins were added. Sensory ranking of model products mostly confirmed the release results.

Oralité alimentaire du jeune enfant : développement de la physiologie orale, expériences alimentaires et acceptabilité des aliments de différentes textures

FP6: Changes in salt or fat contents of model cheeses modify in vivo aroma release and eating

National audience; Health authorities recommend food industries to reduce salt and fat in food products. But reducing such. components in food is a main challenge, particularly because of the interactions with other ingredients,. such as aroma compounds. Indeed, a change in salt or fat content can lead to a change in texture and. structure which can affect food oral processing, aroma release1 and thus perception. The aim of this. project was to study the consequences of a change in salt (NaCl) or fat contents on the aroma release. during eating (chewing behaviour, swallowing). Therefore, six model cheeses have been formulated. (three lipid/protein ratios, with and without salt added). They …

A Method to Evaluate Chewing Efficiency in Infants Through Food Bolus Characterization: A Preliminary Study

Chewing skills develop greatly during the two first years of life, but the evolution of masticatory efficiency has never been directly measured so far. A bottleneck for such study is the difficulty in using the chew-and-spit method with infants and very young children. Herein, we propose a new method based on a model gel enclosed in a food feeder, which has been assessed with adult subjects. Subjects chewed and compressed the gel either alone or enclosed in two different feeders. Analysis of the number of particles and particle area distribution revealed that one feeder,made from silicone teat, interfered with bolus breakdown. However, similar results were observed between experiments in a …

Are the odours efficient stimuli for salivation? Impact of the nature of the odorant

International audience

Food texture acceptance during infancy: a longitudinal study

Texture is an important dimension of food acceptance in infancy but few works investigated its role. The present objectives were to describe the evolution of food texture acceptance and feeding skills in 6 to 18-mo-old. Two groups of healthy children participated in this study conducted at the laboratory at 6, 8, 10mo (n=24) and at 12, 15 and 18mo (n=25). They were offered foods with different textures (smooth and rough purees, cooked and sticky pieces, raw and hard foods) at an earlier age than current practices in France. Infants' acceptance (the ability to process and swallow a food) and feeding skills (sucking and chewing) were expressed as probabilities (P). At 6mo, pureed textures wer…

Studying food oral processing in young infants: methods development

key-note talk at final Habeat symposiumkey-note talk at final Habeat symposium; Studying food oral processing in young infants: methods development. Final Habeat symposium: Improving infant and child eating habits, encouraging fruit and vegetable intake

Salivary cathepsin L content differs between breastfed and formula-fed human infants

Sensory exploration of the freshness sensation in plain yoghurts and yoghurt-like products

WOS: 000324008600021 ; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329313001092; International audience; The term "freshness sensation" is used by consumers for characterizing some plain yoghurts and yoghurt-like products. This study consisted in an investigation of this sensation aiming at determining its underlying sensory attributes. First, two focus groups of consumers were conducted to open up the framework. A set of plain yoghurts and yoghurt-like products, both commercial and experimental, was then subjected to sensory analysis. The samples were sorted by means of a free sorting task, and further scored for the intensity of their freshness sensation and their liking, by 72 …

L'efficacité masticatoire du jeune enfant permet-elle d'expliquer l'acceptabilité des aliments solides pendant la période de diversification alimentaire ?

L25 Influence of mastication and salivation on salt release during bread consumption and relationships with food bolus formation

National audience

Paediatric solid oral dosage forms for combination products: Improving in vitro swallowability of minitablets using binary mixtures with pellets

There is a growing interest in determining and improving the acceptability of solid oral dosage forms (SODF) in paediatric populations. Combination products can be an interesting solution to combine two active pharmaceutical ingredients. This study shows that binary mixture of paediatric SODF could enhance formulation swallowability and palatability. Using the Paediatric Soft Robotic Tongue (PSRT) – an in vitro device inspired by the anatomy and physiology of 2-year-old children – we investigated the oral phase of swallowing of multi-particulate formulations, i.e., pellets (350 and 700 µm particles), minitablets (MTs, 1.8 mm), and their binary mixtures (BM), by measuring the oral swallowing…

Relationships between early flavor/texture exposure, and food acceptability and neophobia

Aroma and salt release and perception in model cheeses are explained by salt/fat contents, microstructure, salt mobility and oral processing

The health authorities recommend a reduction in salt (NaCl) and fat contents of foodstuff. Reducing such components without affecting acceptability is a major challenge, particularly because of the interactions with other ingredients such as aroma compounds. This study consisted in a multimodal approach to understand the effect of changes in composition of model cheeses on the mobility and release of flavour molecules (NaCl, aroma compounds), masticatory behaviour and flavour perception. Six flavoured model cheeses have been formulated (three fat/protein contents, two NaCl contents). The rheological properties were analysed using uniaxial compression tests. Microstructure and homogeneity we…

Développement de l'acceptabilité des aliments solides. A partir de quel âge les morceaux sont-ils acceptés par l'enfant sain ?

Les aliments solides sont proposés aux nourrissons vers 4-6 mois, lorsque leurs besoins nutritionnels ne peuvent plus être uniquement assurés par le lait. Ces aliments (fruits, légumes, produits céréaliers…) sont généralement proposés sous forme de purée ou de bouillie. Au fil des mois, les purées sont ensuite remplacées par des textures de plus en plus consistantes et dures, permettant à l'enfant d'apprendre progressivement à manger les aliments de la table familiale. Cet apprentissage est dépendant du développement des capacités masticatoires de l'enfant, particulièrement dynamique dans la petite enfance. En effet, pour accepter un aliment, l'enfant doit être capable de le manger. Si, à l…

Travaux sur le comportement alimentaire du jeune enfant envers la texture : de la recherche aux recommandations de santé publique

Analysis of oral breakdown of food gels using image analysis

Characterizing the dynamics of food oral breakdown is of interest to understand the temporal perception of food products. Several studies aimed at characterizing bolus properties through the determination of particle size distribution, saliva uptake and rheological properties. For soft and heterogeneous foods, it is difficult to have a description of the evolution of food breakdown in the mouth, because the concept of individual particles is not clear and the bolus texture is not always homogeneous. For this reason, it is convenient to examine the possible utilization of other analytical techniques. The present work aimed at studying the possible contribution of artificial vision for studyi…

Texture - flavour cross-modal interactions in dairy desserts: physico-chemical or cognitive mecanisms?

International audience

Promouvoir l'introduction d'une alimentation diversifiée en morceaux : étude qualitative de l'effet d'une intervention

La diversification alimentaire, période clé de formation des habitudes alimentaires, permet à l'enfant de découvrir de nouveaux goûts et textures. L'introduction d'aliments texturés est recommandée entre 8 et 10 mois pour tendre vers l'alimentation familiale. Des données récentes montrent qu'en France une majorité d'enfants reçoit une alimentation principalement mixée jusqu'à 12 mois. Cette étude qualitative vise à comprendre les effets d'une étude interventionnelle favorisant l'introduction des textures dans l'alimentation des enfants entre 8 et 15 mois. Soixante enfants ont participé à cette étude. Leur comportement envers différentes textures a été évalué au laboratoire à 8 et 15 mois. L…

Influence du caractère onctueux sur la perception de la flaveur dans des crèmes desserts

National audience; La texture, la saveur et l’arôme sont les composantes majeures de l’acceptabilité des aliments par les consommateurs. De nombreuses études menées sur ces composantes deux à deux ont montré que la modification de l’une d’elles peut influencer la perception d’une autre, par des interactions de type physico-chimique et/ou sensoriel. L’originalité de notre approche a été de comprendre comment, dans une matrice alimentaire complexe type crème dessert, la texture (l’épaisseur), la saveur et l’arôme pouvaient interagir ensemble et influencer le caractère onctueux de ce type de produit. Trois matrices de texture variable ont été formulées à partir d’une même composition de base. …

The flavour of margarines: role of aroma-matrix interactions on perception

International audience

The development of chewing skills during early infancy: development of specific methods and first characterization

National audience

Characterization of bread breakdown during mastication by image texture analysis

National audience; Reducing sodium intake in Western diet is advised for reducing hypertension and risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Sodium is mainly consumed via processed foods and among them breads are one of the most important sources of salt [1]. The present study investigated the changes in mastication and salivation for bread samples with different composition and texture, their respective contribution to food bolus formation, and the impact on salt release. The study set-up included five subjects presenting different chewing efficiency and four different breads from different composition and structure (two French baguettes (bakery (BB) and supermarket (BS)), a toast bread (…

Multimodal interactions

Revue; International audience; Introduction A central sensory characteristic of food is its flavor, which, most of the time, confers to a given food product its identity and typicality, and thus contribute to its liking (Prescott, 2015). Flavor has been defined as a sensory percept induced by food or beverage tasting. This holistic perception is constructed through the functional integration of information transmitted by the chemical senses: olfaction, gustation, and oral and nasal somatosensory inputs (Thomas-Danguin, 2009). Flavor may be influenced by other nonchemical sensory inputs such as texture, sound, or color (Spence, 2013). The functional integration of information transmitted by …

Evaluation de l’effet de recommandations sur l’introduction de textures dans les premiers mois de diversification alimentaire sur les pratiques parentales et l’acceptabilité des aliments par le jeune enfant

National audience; Introduction et but de l’étude : Proposer des aliments texturés aux nourrissons rapidement après l’initiation de la diversification alimentaire est essentiel pour leur apprendre à bien mastiquer et développer un répertoire alimentaire sain. Le comité d’experts en nutrition de l’ESPGHAN recommande d’introduire les aliments texturés entre 8 et 10 mois au plus tard. Or, des travaux ont montré qu’en France, les purées restent privilégiées par de nombreux parents pendant la première année et que les enfants sont capables de manger des textures plus complexes d’après une étude comportementale. La question de la texture n’étant pas abordée en détail dans les recommandations de s…

Texture-aroma interactions in dairy products: Do in-vivo and in-vitro aroma release explain sensory perception?

International audience; The influence of the texture on perceived aroma intensity and on in-vivo and in-vitro aroma release was investigated on three types of dairy products, prepared with different textures. Aroma release depends on in mouth breakdown of the product. The consequences of a textural modification on aroma perception were not the same for the different products. In the case of liquid to semi-liquid products (yogurt and custard dessert), in-vivo aroma release decreased when viscosity increased. For firm gels (model cheeses) in-vivo aroma release was found to increase when cheese hardness increased, but inverse results were obtained in in-vitro conditions. Thus, aroma release co…

A novel soft robotic pediatric in vitro swallowing device to gain insights into the swallowability of mini-tablets Authors

Use of artificial vision to study masticatory kinematics: a preliminary study

National audience; The relationship between foods structural properties and masticatory behaviour has been extensively characterised in literature. Electromyographic and jaw movements recordings are the most common methods used to study mastication. These methods are quite expensive, required preparation of the subjects and constraint the study within a laboratory set-up. Moreover, they are barely applicable for characterising specific population such as children or cognitively impaired subjects because of the non compliance to the protocol. Because of these difficulties, chewing behaviour in these populations has mostly been characterised using video (1,2,3). Video observations were found …

Can the odours modulate salivation? Impact of the nature of the odorant

Introduction :Saliva plays numerous roles in the oral cavity, especially in digestion and taste perception. It is well admitted that tastants are effective stimuli of salivation and that the salivary response (flow and composition) depends on the nature of the tastant. However, the impact of odours on salivation is poorly known and not consensual. Odours are the first chemical signal informing about food palatability before ingestion. In this context, it is necessary to understand if the salivary secretions are modulated in function of this sensory signal. The aim of this study is to compare the salivary flow response after stimulation by different odours having different hedonic values.Mat…