We well know our tastes...but what about FLAVOR?

... the most mysteriuos sense...
Have you ever asked yourself what happens in the brain when you sit at the table and hands reach on a slice of bread rather than a piece of cheese?
As amply demonstrated by scientific literature, determining tastes and food preferences is a mix of genetic components (we're not only what we eat but also what our mother ate), pre and post-natal factors and environmental influences.
Aside from pure intellectual curiosity, there are many conflicting impulses playing this game: the awareness of Governments of the importance (and costs) of healthy eating to public health and, on the other hand, the interest of the food manufacturers to find out how to feed as many customers as possible without getting them too fat.

Recently a conference was held in Washington by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS annual meeting news 2011) and it was attended by personalities from various fields: geneticists, biologists, the White House chef and food industry representatives.

They approached this complex phenomenon of flavor trying to understand how we can learn to modulate the good fortune of living in a society where there's plenty of food without "eating ourselves to death" as a species. In fact if eating habits have "made a difference" between ourselves and other animals (according to Richard Wrangham, Harvard University's primatologist, it was cuisine to allow our ancestors to triple the size of their brains!!), today, however, there is a reverse situation: since our body is not yet accustomed to food abundance that makes opulent some regions of the world, those that were once survival stimuli to crave sugary or salty foods have become complicit in generating disorders such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension.
As repeated several times William Yosses, pastry chef at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - the White House, "the flavor is a concept created in the brain". This means - the chef argued - that there are several tricks to satisfy the palate and save on calories, such as working on scents and texture of foods. In fact, scientists agree that flavor is the combination of three chemical senses anatomically distinct: taste, smell and chemosensory (our perception of chemical stimulus) irritation. The stimuli of the taste, once dissolved in saliva, are captured by receptors located in various parts of the tongue, palate and intestines.

The olfactory component, however, is made by volatile compounds received by receptors that are found in the upper regions of the nose. "We think that there are hundreds or thousands of different smells," said Julie a. Mennella, biologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "It is thanks to this combination of taste and smell that we can, for example, distinguish a strawberry from a lime".

Alone, in fact, the sense of taste is divided into five basic categories: bitter, sour, sweet, salty and umami, which in Japanese means "tasty" and indicates the taste of monosodium glutamate. For the rest, the game is played mostly in the nose where, to encode olfactory receptors, there are more than 1000 genes, the largest gene Super-family present in mammals!!!
This interdependence of each of the senses was demonstrated at the AAAS meeting when Kraft Foods’ Jane Leland had audience members pinch their noses then pop a jelly bean into their mouths and chew on it. Taste buds instantly registered the sweet, sour, and gummy aspects of the treat, but not its flavor. When the pinch was released, each member of the audience instantly could tell if they had selected a similarly colored lemon or pineapple treat.
Scholars agree that our food preferences are determined by a set of aspects, including innate components, factors both before and after birth, culture and experiences. "Generally speaking, foods, salty and tasty desserts are attractive in themselves," said Gary Beauchamp, a geneticist and biologist of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. "Regarding the harsh and acidic substances, on the other hand, there is the innate tendency to avoid them, because they are often linked to toxic compounds of plants. As we have shown in recent years, however, taste preferences depend in a large part by eating habits of the mother before and after childbirth". In particular, the team of Beauchamp showed as the flavors absorbed through breast milk are fundamental to form child's tastes.
Also for the giant companies and the small and medium-sized enterprises specialized in production of flavourings is important understanding the biochemical mechanisms of taste, because this has important implications from the economic point of view.

"Almost all consumers want to eat healthier," says Jane Leland, researcher of Kraft Foods. "Then, however, when it comes to renouncing their favorite food, many people flinch." It's here -according to the researcher- that gets into the game the "molecular trick": small steps can meet either consumers sweet tooth or Governments' demands to bring food on the counters that isn't harmful to health. "Thanks to research at molecular level, the science is able to catalyze the creation of delicious foods," assured Leland.
Finally, let's discover the pastry chef's advice to president Obama. A supporter of innovative cuisine (a mix of chemistry, biology and physics), William Yosses states during the Conference that the flavor is also a matter of consistency. According to the chef, in fact, many sweets have an excess of calories that can easily be reduced by replacing just a few ingredients. In a recipe where there are strong flavors like a chocolate mousse, Yosses showed how eggs and cream could be replaced with another kind of protein: gelatin, which can recreate the same consistency. Without sacrifying taste and without anyone noticing, the chef reduced the caloric intake of several calories: “you still get the same effect of a creamy chocolate mousse, and you actually get a better chocolate flavor” that is not hidden by the other ingredients. Another trick reveiled: foam, which is one way to added air and structure to a substance such as tangerine juice, “to produce enhanced flavor on the tongue while maintaining portion size.”
From a certain point of view, the chef admitted, it's a bit like fooling the brain. But if Obama falls and if it is good for your health, these tricks are worth a try...
So if I was looking for taste till today, now I'll look for "flavors" to have a better and healthier experience!!!