Sensory profiles and consumer acceptability of a range of sugar-reduced products on the UK market. (June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Markey, Oonagh; Lovegrove, Julie A.; Methven, Lisa
• Is Part Of: Food research international. Volume 72(2015:Jun.)
• Page Start: 133
• Page End: 139
• Publication Date: 2015-06
• Subjects: Beans baked beans -- Cola cola drink -- Chocolate milk chocolate -- Juice a mixed juice drink containing cranberry & raspberry juice -- EI energy intake -- Jam strawberry jam -- NMES non-milk extrinsic sugars -- REF reformulated -- REG regular -- SEG socio-economic group -- SSB sugar-sweetened beverages; Artificial sweeteners -- Consumer acceptance -- Sensory profile -- Sugar -- Sugar-reduced products -- Sugar reformulation; Food -- Analysis -- Periodicals; Food industry and trade -- Periodicals; Food industry and trade -- Canada -- Periodicals; Food Technology -- Periodicals; Food -- Periodicals; Food-Processing Industry -- Periodicals; Aliments -- Industrie et commerce -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Industrie et commerce -- Canada -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Food industry and trade; Canada; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 664.005
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2015.03.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-9969

Abstract

Abstract: Current UK intake of non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) is above recommendations. Reducing the sugar content of processed high sugar foods through reformulation is one option for reducing consumption of NMES at a population level. However, reformulation can alter the sensory attributes of food products and influence consumer liking. This study evaluated consumer acceptance of a selection of products that are commercially-available in the UK; these included regular and sugar-reduced baked beans, strawberry jam, milk chocolate, cola and cranberry & raspberry juice. Sweeteners were present in the reformulated chocolate (maltitol), cola (aspartame and acesulfame-K) and juice (sucralose) samples. Healthy, non-smoking consumers ( n = 116; 55 men, 61 women, age: 33 ± 9 years; BMI: 25.7 ± 4.6 kg/m 2 ) rated the products for overall liking and on liking of appearance, flavor and texture using a nine-point hedonic scale. There were significant differences between standard and reduced sugar products in consumers' overall liking and on liking of each modality (appearance, flavor and texture; all P < 0.0001). For overall liking, only the regular beans and cola were significantly more liked than their reformulated counterparts ( P < 0.0001). Cluster analysis identified three consumer clusters that were representative of different patterns of consumer liking. For the largest cluster (cluster 3: 45%), there was a significant difference in mean liking scores across all products, except jam. Differences in liking were predominantly driven by sweet taste in 2 out of 3 clusters. The current research has demonstrated that a high proportion of consumers prefer conventional products over sugar-reduced products across a wide range of product types (45%) or across selected products (27%), when tasted unbranded, and so there is room for further optimization of commercial reduced sugar products that were evaluated in the current study. Future work should evaluate strategies to facilitate compliance to dietary recommendations on NMES and free sugars, such as the impact of sugar-reduced food exposure on their acceptance. Highlights: We examine acceptability of commercially-available sugar-reduced products. We compare regular and sugar-reduced beans, jam, chocolate, cola and juice samples. Mean liking scores were significantly lower for sugar-reduced beans and cola. 45% of consumers gave lower liking scores to 4 of 5 sugar-reduced products.