JP2008278997A - Flavor evaluation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of measuring the change of cerebral blood flow when eating and drinking food and drink and evaluating the fitness of the flavor of the food and drink by solving defects based on sensary evaluation or the like and using an optical topography apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: In the method of measuring the change of the cerebral blood flow when eating and drinking the food and drink and evaluating the fitness of the flavor of the food and drink, the flavor evaluation method is characterized by utilizing a comparison presentation method for which control and a specimen are turned to one set. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a flavor evaluation method. In more detail, in the method of measuring the change of cerebral blood flow when eating and drinking food and drink, and evaluating the suitability of the flavor of food and drink, it is characterized by using a comparative presentation method that combines a control and a sample. It is related with the flavor evaluation method to do.

  As a method for evaluating the flavor of food and drink, sensory evaluation based solely on human senses is heavily used. Sensory evaluation is suitable for comprehensive evaluation, but has the disadvantage that subjective factors such as individual differences, sensory fatigue, and changes in physical condition affect it. The QDA method (quantitative description analysis method) is a method that gives objectivity to the subjective evaluation, but it takes time to select common terms and train the panel.

  In addition, various chromatographs including liquid chromatographs, and evaluations by devices such as odor sensors and taste sensors are used. Although evaluation using an instrument such as a liquid chromatograph is objective, analysis for each target item is required, and it takes a considerable amount of time to perform a comprehensive evaluation. A sensor that substitutes human sense of smell and taste has a short measurement time, but has a problem in stability, reproducibility, and correlation with sensory evaluation by a subject.

  Therefore, in order to make subjective evaluation by humans objective, in addition to these, attempts have been made to adopt psychophysiological techniques for observing and measuring physiological responses occurring in the living body. Psychophysiology is a psychological study that studies the state and movements of the heart using the indicators of biological responses that can be measured, such as pupil size, heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves, magnetoencephalogram, cerebral blood flow, and stress hormone concentrations. This is a new area. Humans show physiological responses such as changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and stress substances in saliva as well as changes in sensations and emotions by smelling. Observation and measurement of these physiological responses is a method for evaluating flavor from an angle different from conventional instrumental analysis and sensory evaluation, and is a new method for evaluating flavor.

  Capillaries are densely present in the cerebral cortex, the place where most emotional information is finally received, the place of computation processing, and the place where the corresponding output is directed, and the hemoglobin in the blood tends to absorb near infrared rays It has the nature of If this is used to irradiate near-infrared rays onto the scalp to detect reflected light, the blood flow in the cerebral cortex can be determined, and in turn the state of its activity.

  Non-Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an optical topography apparatus) that measures the amount of hemoglobin using near infrared rays. In this measuring apparatus, near infrared rays (NIR) in a specific wavelength region are incident from one side of the subject's head using an optical fiber. Part of the near-infrared light incident on the subject's head is absorbed by the tissue in the head, and the remaining part is detected by a detector on the scalp via the cerebral cortex. The absorptance in the subject's head is measured by measuring the intensity of the detected near infrared ray. The optical topography apparatus has an advantage that it is not large and restrictive like positron emission tomography (PET method) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI method).

  Non-Patent Document 2 discloses which part of the brain is active by monitoring the brain activity when performing a sensory evaluation of the flavor of tea using an optical topography device.

Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, Vol. 123, no. 3, 2003, pages 160-163 Appitete, Vol. 7, 2006, 220-232

  The present invention solves the drawbacks based on sensory evaluation, etc., and uses the above-described optical topography device to measure the change in cerebral blood flow when eating and drinking food and drink to evaluate the suitability of the flavor of the food and drink The purpose is to provide.

  The inventors of the present invention first focused on the above characteristics of an optical topography device, and used the optical topography device to examine changes in cerebral blood flow when a taste substance or a food or drink to which a flavor improving agent was added was consumed. Proposing a taste-improving method for taste substances or foods and beverages that select the type or addition amount of the flavor-improving agent based on the measurement results, and activating the frontal lobe function due to its adaptability when the same sample is drunk continuously Disclosed that there is a tendency to gradually become smaller (Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-84781).

  In the comparative presentation method in which the control and the sample are combined as one set, the inventors of the present invention have continuously examined the change in the cerebral blood flow when the control-sample is swallowed. The change in the cerebral blood flow of the second control (hereinafter abbreviated as control 2) changes depending on the type of the sample, and the change in the cerebral blood flow of the control 2 changes the flavor of the sample. As a result of considering the possibility that the suitability can be evaluated, the inventors found that the suitability of the flavor of the sample can be evaluated by comparing and evaluating the change in cerebral blood flow of each control. It came.

  That is, the present invention uses a comparative presentation method in which a control and a sample are combined in a method for measuring the change in cerebral blood flow when eating or drinking food and drink and evaluating the suitability of the taste of food and drink. A characteristic flavor evaluation method is provided.

  Moreover, this invention provides the said flavor evaluation method whose cerebral blood flow is the blood flow of a cerebral cortex.

  The present invention further provides the flavor evaluation method as described above, wherein the change in cerebral blood flow measures the change in the amount of hemoglobin in the blood by near infrared spectroscopy.

  Moreover, this invention provides the said flavor evaluation method by which the change of a cerebral blood flow is measured using a test subject's adaptation.

  Furthermore, the present invention provides the above-described flavor evaluation method for comparatively evaluating changes in cerebral blood flow between controls in a comparative presentation method in which a control and a sample are combined.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the flavor evaluation method which can evaluate the suitability of flavors, such as food-drinks, efficiently and objectively can be provided.

  In the present invention, the “flavor” to be evaluated is not particularly limited, and examples include taste, aroma such as sweet, sour, bitter, umami, and pungent, and substances that express these “flavor” Specifically, examples of the sweet substance include sugars such as sugar, licorice extract, stevia extract, rakanka extract, and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium. Examples of sour substances include organic acids contained in lemons, etc., and examples of bitter substances include hop extract (humulones), caffeine, quina extract (kinin), naringin, theobromine, nigaki extract, sagebrush extract , Use in foods such as gentian extract, medicinal bitter substances, alkaloids, etc. Substances, food-containing substances such as polyphenols (catechin, isoflavone, chlorogenic acid) and the like, and among fragrance ingredients, menthol, mint oil, etc. have a bitter taste. Examples of umami substances include nucleic acids such as inosinic acid and guanylic acid, and amino acids such as glutamic acid, alanine, glycine and arginine. Examples of pungent substances include capsaicin in chili pepper, piperine in pepper, 6 in ginger. -Gingerol can be mentioned. Moreover, as a substance which expresses fragrance, a natural fragrance | flavor, a synthetic fragrance | flavor, and fragrance | flavor compositions (formulated fragrance | flavor etc.) containing these fragrance | flavor components can be mentioned.

  “Evaluation of suitability of flavor” refers to evaluating whether the flavor of a sample is close to the flavor of a target control.

  The flavor evaluation method of the present invention can be performed by measuring a change in cerebral blood flow using an optical topography device attached to a subject when the subject is performing a sensory evaluation of a food or drink diluted with a flavor substance. . Specifically, it is performed by presenting a control (target flavor substance fragrance product) and a sample as a set to a subject and measuring changes in cerebral blood flow when the subject is performing sensory evaluation. it can. The measurement can be performed several times a day, and when measuring by changing the day, it is preferable to measure in the same time zone. The quality of the sample can be evaluated by statistically processing the cerebral blood flow data for each channel (CH) of the optical topography apparatus thus obtained. As an optical topography apparatus used in the present invention, for example, Hitachi ETG-4000 type optical topography apparatus (manufactured by Hitachi Medical Co., Ltd .: 26 channels on one side, 52 channels in total) can be exemplified.

Example 1
When drinking in the order of control 1 → sample → control 2, it was hypothesized that the rate of change in cerebral blood flow of control 2 was affected by the type of sample, and whether this hypothesis was valid was verified. A sample, a subject, a measuring device, and a measuring method are shown below.
[sample]
Control 1: 6% by weight sugar aqueous solution Control 2: 6% by weight sugar aqueous solution Sample 1: 6% by weight sugar aqueous solution Sample 2: 0.036% by weight aspartame aqueous solution (sweetness adjusted to 6% by weight sugar aqueous solution)
Sample 3: Sugar flavor (manufactured by Hasegawa Koryo Co., Ltd.) was added to Sample 2 [Subject]
48 subjects who confirmed in advance that the difference in taste between sugar and aspartame can be identified (men and women from the 20s to 40s)
[measuring device]
Hitachi ETG-4000 type optical topography device (manufactured by Hitachi Medical Corporation: 26 channels on one side, 52 channels in total)
[Measuring method]
After mounting a probe equipped with a number of sensors connected to an optical topography device on the subject's head, the sample was always presented and measured by a comparative presentation method in which the control and the sample were compared.

After resting for 1 minute according to the time schedule shown in FIG. 1, control 1 was drunk, the sample was drunk 1 minute later, and sensory judgment, that is, whether or not there was a difference from the control 30 seconds after drinking the sample I was asked to make a judgment by raising my hand. Further, after 90 seconds, sensory evaluation was performed using the sensory evaluation sheet shown in FIG. 2 (3 to 4 minutes). Then, after resting for another minute, Control 2 was drunk. The measurement by the subject was performed at the same time zone with different days.
[result]
In FIG. 3, after drinking Control 1, the same sample (6% by weight sugar aqueous solution) was drunk as Sample 1, and then oxygenated hemoglobin measured with an optical topography apparatus when Control 2 was further drunk. The amount of change over time is shown (channel (CH) 41 on day 1 of subject No. 18). When drinking the same sample as the control (6% by weight sugar aqueous solution) after drinking Control 1, the rate of change in oxygenated hemoglobin decreases due to self-adaptation. The rate of change is smaller than the rate of change of control 1, and the rate of increase of control peak (([control 2 peak height]-[control 1 peak height]) / [control 1 peak Height]) was −39.7% (Experiment 1).

  In FIG. 4, after drinking Control 1, sample 2 (0.036 wt% aspartame aqueous solution) was drunk, and then oxygenated hemoglobin measured with an optical topography apparatus when Control 2 was further drunk over time. It shows the amount of change (subject No. 18 channel (CH) 41 on the second day of experiment). When drinking aspartame aqueous solution as sample 2 after drinking control 1, the rate of change in oxygenated hemoglobin due to cross-adaptation is greater than that of sample 1, and further, the amount of oxygenated hemoglobin when drinking control 2 The rate of change is larger than the rate of change in Control 2 in Experiment 1, and the rate of increase in control peak (([peak height of control 2]-[peak height of control 1]) / [control 1] The peak height] was 13.7% (Experiment 2).

  FIG. 5 shows the time course of oxygenated hemoglobin measured with an optical topography apparatus after drinking Control 1 and then drinking Sample 3 (sample 2 containing sugar flavor) and then drinking Control 2 Change amount (channel (CH) 41 on the third day of experiment of subject No. 18). After drinking Control 1, when sample 3 was mixed with an aspartame aqueous solution and sugar flavored, the rate of change in oxygenated hemoglobin due to cross-adaptation was smaller than that in sample 2, and the rate of change in sample 1 It was close. Furthermore, the rate of change in oxygenated hemoglobin when drinking Control 2 is smaller than the rate of change in Control 2 in Experiment 2, and the rate of increase in control peak (([peak height of control 2]-[peak of control 1] Height]) / [peak height of control 1]) was -46.7%, which was close to the control peak increase rate of experiment 1 (experiment 3).

  Based on the above results, the hypothesis that the rate of change in cerebral blood flow of control 2 is affected by the type of sample when drinking in the order of control 1 → sample → control 2 was supported.

[Sensory evaluation results]
FIG. 6 shows the results of the sensory evaluation on Sample 1, Sample 2 and Sample 3, in which the sugar flavor as sample 3 showed an improvement effect on the remaining reduction after bitterness and sweetness of aspartame as sample 2. The result of human sensory evaluation is shown. In these subjects, the changes over time in oxyhemoglobin when Control 1 → Sample → Control 2 were swallowed showed the trends shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and sensory evaluation and changes in cerebral blood flow were observed. It was found that the suitability of the flavor of the sample can be evaluated by the rate of change in cerebral blood flow of control 2.

It is explanatory drawing which shows a time schedule when the comparative presentation method is implemented. It is a sensory evaluation sheet when a sample is drunk. It is a graph which shows the variation | change_quantity of oxygenated hemoglobin when the control 1-> sample 1-> control 2 is drunk. It is a graph which shows the variation | change_quantity of oxygenated hemoglobin when control 1-> sample 2-> control 2 is drunk. It is a graph which shows the variation | change_quantity of oxygenated hemoglobin when control 1-> sample 3-> control 2 is drunk. It is explanatory drawing which shows the average value of sensory evaluation of 10 test subjects when samples 1-3 are drunk by the comparative presentation method.

Claims (5)

A method for evaluating flavor suitability by measuring changes in cerebral blood flow when eating or drinking food and drink, and using a comparative presentation method that combines a control and a sample as a set. . The flavor evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the cerebral blood flow is a blood flow of a cerebral cortex. The flavor evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the change in cerebral blood flow is determined by measuring the change in the amount of hemoglobin in the blood by near infrared spectroscopy. The flavor evaluation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a change in cerebral blood flow is measured using adaptation of a subject. The flavor evaluation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a change in cerebral blood flow between the controls is comparatively evaluated in a comparative presentation method in which the control and the sample are a set.

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