TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-rated aversion to taste qualities and the PROP taster phenotype associate with alcoholic beverage intake and preference
AU - Pickering, Gary J.
AU - Thibodeau, Margaret K.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant), grant number 11733181 to G.J.P.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/6/9
Y1 - 2021/6/9
N2 - Consumers often identify “taste” as an important factor when selecting alcoholic beverages. Although it is assumed that reduced alcohol consumption in PROP super-tasters is due to a greater dislike of the nominally aversive sensations that they experience more intensely (e.g., bitterness) when compared to PROP non-tasters, this question has not been specifically asked to them. Therefore, we examined consumers’ self-reported aversion towards specific sensory attributes (bitter, hot/burn, dry, sour, sweet, carbonation) for four alcoholic beverage types (white wine, red wine, beer, spirits) using a convenience sample of U.S. wine consumers (n = 925). Participants rated 18 statements describing different combinations of sensory attributes and alcoholic beverages on a 5-point Likert scale (e.g., Beer tastes too bitter for me). Individuals who tended to agree more strongly with the statements (i.e., they were more averse; p(F) < 0.05) tended to (i) consume less of all beverage types, (ii) consume a higher proportion of white wine (p(r) < 0.05), and (iii) were more likely to be female or PROP super-tasters. The results suggest that self-reported aversion to specific sensory attributes is associated with not only lower overall intake of alcoholic beverages, but also a shift in the relative proportions of beverage type consumed; a key finding for studies investigating how taste perception impacts alcohol consumption.
AB - Consumers often identify “taste” as an important factor when selecting alcoholic beverages. Although it is assumed that reduced alcohol consumption in PROP super-tasters is due to a greater dislike of the nominally aversive sensations that they experience more intensely (e.g., bitterness) when compared to PROP non-tasters, this question has not been specifically asked to them. Therefore, we examined consumers’ self-reported aversion towards specific sensory attributes (bitter, hot/burn, dry, sour, sweet, carbonation) for four alcoholic beverage types (white wine, red wine, beer, spirits) using a convenience sample of U.S. wine consumers (n = 925). Participants rated 18 statements describing different combinations of sensory attributes and alcoholic beverages on a 5-point Likert scale (e.g., Beer tastes too bitter for me). Individuals who tended to agree more strongly with the statements (i.e., they were more averse; p(F) < 0.05) tended to (i) consume less of all beverage types, (ii) consume a higher proportion of white wine (p(r) < 0.05), and (iii) were more likely to be female or PROP super-tasters. The results suggest that self-reported aversion to specific sensory attributes is associated with not only lower overall intake of alcoholic beverages, but also a shift in the relative proportions of beverage type consumed; a key finding for studies investigating how taste perception impacts alcohol consumption.
KW - 6-n-propylthiouracil
KW - Alcohol adventurousness
KW - Alcohol consump-tion
KW - Beer
KW - Flavor
KW - Individual differences
KW - PROP taster status
KW - Sex differences
KW - Spirits
KW - Wine
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U2 - 10.3390/beverages7020037
DO - 10.3390/beverages7020037
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85108452238
VL - 7
SP - 1
EP - 21
JO - Beverages
JF - Beverages
SN - 2306-5710
IS - 2
M1 - 37
ER -