The influence of herbs and spices on overall liking of reduced fat food

• Published in: Appetite 2014-08, Vol.79, p.183-188
• Main Authors: Peters, John C., Polsky, Sarit, Stark, Rebecca, Zhaoxing, Pan, Hill, James O.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Diet - psychology; Dietary fat intake; Dietary Fats; Female; Food liking; Food Preferences; Humans; Male; Meals; Middle Aged; Pleasure; Saturated fat intake; Spices; Taste; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0195-6663; 1095-8304
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2014.04.019

•One hundred forty-eight adults consumed three different conditions of meatloaf and two side dishes.•The meal conditions were full fat (FF), reduced fat (RF), and RF plus spice (RFS).•Subjects rated their liking of the meal and its items on a 9-point Likert scale.•FF and RFS were liked significantly more than RF for the meal and all its items.•Adding spices is a way to reduce fat intake without sacrificing hedonic liking. Most adults consume more fat than is recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. We examined whether adding herbs and spices to reduced-fat foods would improve their consumer liking. We recruited adults 18–65 years old to taste three lunch conditions: full fat (FF), reduced fat with no added spice (RF), and reduced fat plus spice (RFS). Subjects rated their liking of a meatloaf entrée, vegetable side dish, pasta side dish, and overall meal on a 9-point hedonic Likert scale. Subjects came weekly for 3 weeks to consume meals and were randomized to the condition order. We enrolled 148 subjects who were predominantly female (n = 101, 68%), had a mean age of 35.9 years, and body mass index of 24.4 kg/m2. Subjects reported habitual diets as 36% of total calories from fat (2005 Block Food Frequency Questionnaire). Reducing fat content alone significantly dropped overall liking of the meal compared with FF and RFS conditions (6.29 RF vs. 7.05 FF, P