The study suggests that the texture affects food choices

All this has to do with visual perception.


And if we told you the reason why you may not prefer something like aLarabar-Dewy, healthy healthy snacks mainly made of dried fruits and nuts - may not have so much done with global flavor but rather thetexture Based on appearance?

The labeled foods (or even described) as having a "earthy" flavor or containing "raw" ingredients can be discharged, especially thoseThe taste buds are not trained to enjoy the seedar food. A recent study published inFood grade and preferenceHighlights another factor that potentially pivots the decision-making of people when it comes to choosing a healthier food on a food source that is not so healthy: perception of texture.

Consumer psychologistDr. Cathrine Jansson-Boyd The University of Anglia Ruskin led research, which involved 88 people to indicate six types of different oat cookies on the following criteria:

  • sanitary
  • savoring
  • crunch
  • charm
  • Probability of purchase based solely on visual appearance

This study was focused solely on how a food product can be perceived differently just the way it looks. And the texture played a huge role in the way these cookies appeared. (It should be noted here that in the UK, where the university is based, what the Americans would call "cookies" are called "cookies". These were probably closer to oat cookies than the South style cookies.)

Oat cookies have been selected for this study as they are considered healthy (because of oats) and unhealthy (because of a cookie). The general consensus among the participants was that the cookies with a texture visibly pronounced were perceived as healthier and, therefore less desirable.

The opposite has been thought of cookies with visibly less explicit textures, perceived as more tasty,crispand more likely to be purchased at the store. Essentially, biscuits have thought that people have come out only according to the eyes, remember - were not as healthy as those with more pronounced textures, which means that the healthy biscuit options were not also desirable for participants.

RELATED: Drinking sweet drinks can increase your death risk of more than 20%, explains a new study

In short, this study revealed that a food product with a healthy texture gives the consumer the impression that it does not taste as well. Dr. Jansson-Boyd believes that the conclusions of this study can potentially allow food manufacturers to design healthier less bumpy food products and, instead, smoother.

"A sweet object, such as a biscuit, enjoys an appearance as being less healthy than it increases the perception of the flavor and increases the probability of purchase. Guiding healthier buying decisions, food producers can therefore seek to use healthy health, more sweet textures to overcome this healthy perception is not tasty "she said.

But is it really the answer here? Companies like Larabar, with its notable pieces of nuts and its pieces of dried fruit, make their productssofter Increase his perception of being more tasty?

Sass de Cynthia, RD, CSSD, LAD performance nutritionist, said there are two types of people: health applicants and taste applicants.

"I find that health seekers are willing to try new new or alternative versions of food because they want to be healthier and most of the taste of better versions," she says. "In fact, many say when they return to a traditional treated version, they find it unattractive, unsatisfactory and apparently false or" chemical tasting ".

On the contrary, the seekers of taste, which we can probably deduce from the majority of the participants in this study, allow the taste to be the driving factor in the manufacture of food choices. So, if these types of consumers buy foods that do not have the typical "healthy" appearance, but are actually nutritionally dense, they may not identify the connection between their choices and health benefits.

But instead of deceiving these consumers in search of taste, the answer could be the opposite. If companies can encourage consumers to move aware of the taste of the pivoting decision factor, they can be willing to try to try healthier foods.

"Ideally, the goal is to move more people from the taste to the [the] search path of health, then introduce foods that deliver the two," says Sass. And for more strange science, check The science behind the reason some people can not support Cilantro .


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