Consumption of High Fat Foods Influences Taste Preferences

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if frequent consumption of high fat foods would influence the acceptance of a fat modified food. Subjects (N = 80) completed a questionnaire to determine frequency of use of 15 high fat and 15 low fat foods and reasons for their use. Subjects were divided into frequent and infrequent consumers of high fat foods and asked to rate the acceptability of a low and high fat version of a casserole using a nine-point hedonic scale. There were no significant differences in acceptability scores between the infrequent and frequent consumers of high fat foods when evaluating the low fat casserole (6.9 ± 1.5 vs. 7.0 ± 1.1). However, the frequent consumers rated the overall acceptability of the high fat casserole significantly higher than the infrequent customers (7.4 ± 1.0 vs. 6.8 ± 1.6, P = 0.03). As health conscious individuals eat fewer high fat foods and more low fat foods, taste preferences for fat may change.