Comparison of Chinese and American subjects on the self‐administered Waterless Empirical Taste Test

Abstract

Cultural differences have been reported between the taste sensitivity of persons of Asian and European ancestry, although findings have been mixed. This study sought to determine whether American and Chinese adults perform differently on a novel taste test that requires no water, can be self‐administered, and employs a representative of umami as one of its tastants. This 53‐trial test was administered to 113 Chinese and 214 Americans. The subjects orally sampled monomer cellulose pads containing one of four dried concentrations of sucrose, citric acid, NaCl, caffeine, and monosodium glutamate and indicated whether a sweet, sour, bitter, salty, brothy, or no taste sensation was perceived. Separate gender by culture analyses of covariance with age as the covariate were performed on the total score and the scores of each taste stimulus. For all taste qualities, women outperformed men and test scores declined with age. No difference between American and Chinese subjects was found for the total taste score ( p = .129) or for the sucrose ( p = .129) or NaCl ( p = .368) scores. However, for monosodium glutamate, the scores were 28.40% higher for the Chinese than for the American subjects ( p = .024), and for citric acid and caffeine, the scores were 24.12 and 21.79% higher for the American subjects ( p 's = .001 and .029). The basis for these differences is unclear, although both anatomical (e.g., differences in density or distribution of taste buds) and cultural factors may be involved. Future work is needed to determine the cause of these largely novel findings and whether they generalize to other Chinese and American samples. Practical applications In this study, a practical self‐administered quantitative taste test that requires no water was found to be sensitive to quality‐specific differences in test scores between Chinese and American subjects, as well as to age and gender. The Chinese subjects outperformed the American subjects in correctly identifying the quality of monosodium glutamate (umami), whereas the American subjects outperformed Chinese subjects in correctly identifying the bitter and sour qualities of caffeine and citric acid, respectively. Experiential factors related to culture‐specific cuisines may explain some of these differences. This research indicates that a relatively rapid taste test, which can be sent through the mail and which requires no test administrator or source of water, can be used in cross‐cultural studies to elucidate individual differences in taste perception.

Validation of the clinical applicability of the brief self-administered waterless empirical taste test during the era of COVID-19

“…Therefore, gender affects WETT results, although the effect of age on WETT results still requires further investigation. In another study, 9 it was also discovered that females performed better than males, but that the salty WETT ® score did not decrease with age. Therefore, we divided our subjects into male and female groups.…”

“…The WETT is a valid taste test. [7][8][9] It employs neither liquid tastants nor liquid rinses between tests, making it convenient to use at a medical clinic to evaluate the taste function of COVID-19 patients. Moreover, it includes a test for umami, which makes the test more comprehensive when compared with traditional taste tests.…”

“…The reasons for the differences in performance on the WETT between Taiwanese and Chinese subjects are difficult to explain, although environmental, genetic, and cultural factors have been mentioned. 9 B-WETT is a brief version of WETT. It is comprised of 20 disposable tastant plastic strips and seven blank plastic strips which are used in the first half of the WETT.…”

“…Chen et al 9 have compared the test results of WETT between Chinese and American healthy adult subjects. The mean total WETT scores (the sum scores of the five tastants and blank strips) were 33.24 for Chinese males and 33.85 for female Chinese females as compared with 31.83 for American males and 38.19 for American females.…”

“…The test has been validated in several studies. [7][8][9] Recently, a brief version of WETT (Brief Self-Administered Waterless Empirical Taste Test, B-WETT) has been developed with 27 disposable plastic strips, with sets of four coated in one of five tastants (sucrose, citric acid, sodium chloride, caffeine, or monosodium glutamate) and seven blank strips. B-WETT is designed for self-administration (Fig.…”