Arousal influences olfactory abilities in adults with different degree of food neophobia

Abstract

Food neophobia, i.e., the aversion to novel foods, and olfaction are both factors strongly affecting food choices. Mounting evidence suggests a higher arousal towards food as a key factor underlying the reluctance to eat what is unfamiliar to us. As the role of olfaction behind this phenomenon is poorly understood, we explored the associations between food neophobia and trait anxiety, olfactory functions (odor threshold, discrimination and identification) and retronasal aroma release from a reference food in a healthy cohort of 83 adult volunteers. We grouped participants in Low-Neophobics or neophilics (n = 35), Medium-Neophobics (n = 32) and High-Neophobics (n = 16) according to the widely recognized Food Neophobia Scale. Participants with higher neophobic tendencies were found to have marginally higher trait anxiety levels than neophilics (p = 0.10). A lower global olfactory functioning and odor discrimination abilities characterized High-Neophobics, while Medium-Neophobics showed a higher odor sensitiveness than Low-Neophobics. Lastly, High-Neophobics showed a lower extent of retronasal aroma release, likely due to a shorter duration of oral processing and higher anxiety-related physiological responses (such as breathing rate). In summary, this study supports the assumption that the conflicting relationship that neophobics have with food may be led by higher levels of arousal toward foods, rather than different chemosensory functions.

Food Neophobia, Odor and Taste Sensitivity, and Overall Flavor Perception in Food

“…High-neophobic subjects gave lower liking scores to the mint and pine odors and lower perceived intensity scores to the banana and pine odors. These results are in accordance with the studies conducted by Raudenbush and colleagues [ 38 ] and Menghi and colleagues [ 40 ], which showed that neophobic individuals rated the evaluated odors as less pleasant and perceived them less intensely. A possible explanation of these findings lies in the caution that neophobic subjects put on trying novel olfactory stimuli.…”

“…Furthermore, Demattè et al [ 18 ] showed that neophobics were less able in odor identification than neophilics. However, Menghi et al [ 40 ] concluded that the conflicting relationship between neophobics and new food may be led by higher levels of arousal toward foods, rather than different chemosensory functions.…”

Food neophobia and intervention of university students in China

“…Older people or those with lower education tend to have a higher level of food neophobia (Soucier et al., 2019 ). Fear related to unpleasant sensory cues of (novel) food is the key factor to refuse new food (Menghi et al., 2020 ). Flight et al.…”

Food Neophobia and scarce olfactory performances are linked to oral microbiota

“…Interestingly, olfactory abilities and FN are strongly linked. Indeed, high-neophobics tend to evaluate an odor as less intense and less pleasant than neophilics (Raudenbush et al, 1998), and they show an overall worse olfactory performance than neophilics as measured by the TDI (odor Threshold, Discrimination and Identification) score obtained with the Sniffin' Sticks battery (Hummel et al, 1997, Menghi et al, 2020. Moreover, high-neophobic individuals also exhibited increased anxietyrelated physiological responses and a lower extent of retronasal aroma release during the consumption of a strawberry jelly candy.…”

“…Moreover, high-neophobic individuals also exhibited increased anxietyrelated physiological responses and a lower extent of retronasal aroma release during the consumption of a strawberry jelly candy. These phenomena might be explained by the tendency of neophobics to avoid unpleasant food-related experiences (Menghi et al, 2020).…”