EFFECT OF SUCROSE IN BREAKFAST ITEMS ON PLEASANTNESS AND FOOD-INTAKE IN THE ELDERLY

This study was designed to determine the differences between young and elderly people on the perceived intensity and pleasantness of sucrose in foods, in relation to their food intake. First, a group of 35 youn g subjects (mean age: 22 +/- 2 years) and 29 elderly subjects (mean ag e: 79 +/- 6 years) judged the intensity and the pleasantness of 5 seri es of breakfast items: orange lemonade, strawberry jam, strawberry yog hurt, chocolate paste, and grain porridge, each with 5 geometrically s paced sucrose concentration levels. On average, the elderly people had a lower slope of the sucrose psychophysical function. Optimal preferr ed sucrose concentrations were higher for the elderly compared to the young. The second phase in the study concerned the effects of the diff erent optimal sucrose concentrations in foods on food intake. The seco nd experiment dealt with 2 different optimal preferred sucrose concent rations (elderly vs. young subjects) in the food items: orange lemonad e, strawberry and blueberry jam, and strawberry and blueberry yoghurt, served during breakfast. A group of 33 young people (mean age: 23 +/- 2 years) and 25 elderly subjects (mean age: 82 +/- 5 years) participa ted in a crossover study of 2 5-day (breakfast) treatments. Subjects a te ad lib from these foods and other items such as bread, coffee, and tea. The results showed that the sucrose concentration had no effect o n the absolute amount consumed, although total energy intake of the br eakfast increased with the higher sucrose foods. No clear difference w as found in pleasantness between the 2 breasts with the different sucr ose concentrations. These findings indicate that a flavor concentratio n evaluated as being most pleasant by the elderly with the help of sma ll amounts of stimuli (in a lab setting) does not necessarily predict the pleasantness and the food intake behaviour in realistic settings. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.