6533b862fe1ef96bd12c6927

RESEARCH PRODUCT

T@sty: a test for assessing taste sensitivity. Description, application example

subject

description

The aim of the poster is to present the T@styTM device and to give an example application through results obtained in an ongoing study. The advantages and limits of this device will be discussed. T@styTM device, usable for home testing, was designed to assess human ability to detect several tastants at low concentrations in order to provide individual profiles based on sensitivity to the five tastes (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami). Three test-sheets made of edible paper are used for each taste (three replicate measurements). Each test-sheet consists of six series of three precut discs (one “tasty disc” and two neutral discs) on which taste stimuli of different intensities were deposited in a controlled way. The concentrations were chosen to obtain a Gaussian distribution of the individual scores across the general population. For each series, subjects are instructed to taste the three discs by placing them on the tip of the tongue for a few seconds and to find the tasty disc. Calculation of the sensitivity score was inspired by the Best-Estimate Threshold (BET) method. Results can be express as a score going from 0 to 6 or as a percentage reflecting sensitivity compared to a reference population. The results presented emerge from an ongoing study whose objective is to investigate whether the biological film lining the tongue may play a role in taste perception. Taste sensitivity of 100 subjects was evaluated using t@sty test. The results show that high interindividual variability exists for the five tastes, and suggest that taste sensitivity is a general feature. A significant effect of Age and Gender factors was highlighted. In accordance with previous works, we observed that taste sensitivity declines with age, and that women have higher sensitivity than men. Announcement: We are looking for a company interested in manufacturing TastyTM device.