Patterns of sweetness preference in red wine according to consumer characterisation

Abstract

The preference for sweet taste in red wine was examined according to consumer categories of age, gender, drinking experience and personality type (Big-5 personality-test). A total of 114 subjects revealed their preferences for sweetness after tasting dry red wine spiked with equal concentrations of glucose and fructose at 2g/L, 4g/L, 8g/L, 16g/L and 32g/L, following an ascending forced choice paired comparison method (2-AFC). The overall preference for sweetness was shown within the range of 4.8 to 21.9g/L, with maximal liking at 8g/L. Three patterns of response to sweetness were observed (sweet dislikers, sweet likers and indifferent to sweet) according to the different categories of consumers. Differences (p>0.05) were not found in sweetness preference among the categories up to 16g/L sugar except for the trait extraversion at 8g/L, where low extraverts showed a higher proportion of responses preferring the sweeter sample. Most significant differences were found only under the highest tasted concentration (32g/L). Females and novices preferred sweeter samples (p<0.05) when compared with the response of males and experienced consumers, respectively.

The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS): Measurement Invariance Across Gender in Chinese University Students

“…Item 8 (When I think of something tasty, like a chocolate chip cookie, I have to have one) is related to the pleasure feelings responding to the sweets. Women with higher scores on item 8 in present study might be consistent with the previous findings that women appreciated sweetness more than males did (Katou et al, 2005; Sena-Esteves et al, 2018). Notably, no studies have examined the measurement invariance of the TEPS across gender in other cultural contexts, so it is not clear whether the non-invariant intercepts of item 4 and 8 exist only in Chinese male and female, which warrants future exploration.…”

Determinants of Sweetness Preference: A Scoping Review of Human Studies

“…Kampov-Polevov et al [88] reported an association between sweetness preference (of the strongest sucrose solution) and either mood or uncontrolled eating habits. Sweetness preference was associated with many different personality traits, including having greater impulsiveness or lower openness [89], being a novice alcohol-drinker or less extroverted [90], having greater choice impulsivity [91], and being highly outgoing or having a low or medium type A personality [92]. Together, the limited evidence is highly heterogeneous when attempting to assess the effects of various personality traits on sweetness preference, with no clear or consistent associations.…”

Gender effects on odor-induced taste enhancement and subsequent food consumption

“…taste recognition and valence), however, is cognitive processing of the inputs coming to the brain from the physiological reaction to the chemical substance. This cognitive processing is made according to taste patterns stored in the individual’s memory (Sena-Esteves et al , 2018). These patterns are accumulated and developed through the taste experiences the individual had in his/her life (Rosch, 1988).…”

“…The results show that female participants had higher ratings for food pungency, which affected their food liking of spicy food. Laaksonen et al (2016) and Sena-Esteves et al (2018) found that female participants preferred sweeter samples of solid and liquid food when compared to male participants.…”