2018 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 18-25
The aim of this research was to determine the relationship of broth preference and dietary experiences in umami recognition of high school students. We provided questionnaires regarding natural and processed broth to 353 first year high school students in Kumamoto prefecture. We specified two groups for each of the five basic tastes, thus separating each taste by an approximate threshold for itself: for instance, a “low umami threshold” group and a “high umami threshold” group. “Low” refers to a positive sense, and “high” refers to a negative sense. The low umami group identified the difference between the natural and processed broths. To analyze the factors’ effects on the umami-recognition threshold, we used logistic regression. We further distinguished results between genders. In the low umami group, females perceived salty, sour, and bitter tastes, whereas males perceived salty and sweet tastes. Furthermore, in females, the umami threshold may be strongly influenced by food variances including richer broth, increased amount of cholesterol, and more pungent taste; in males, no such variance influenced the umami threshold significantly.
