Alyssa Bakke wants to like whole wheat bread. The doctoral candidate in Food Science and Nutrition knows whole wheat is better for her than white bread, but she just can’t make herself enjoy it. In late 2004, she decided to figure out why.
Since then Bakke (2004–B.S., food science and nutrition), the first recipient of the department’s Joseph J. Warthesen 21st Century Graduate Fellowship, has conducted two of three planned studies into the sensory factors that affect bread choices.
“It’s interesting to study—my own perspective makes me almost a subject in the group I’m examining,” Bakke said, chuckling. “What’s funny is that every time I talk to people about my study, they always say, ‘well, I like whole wheat bread.’ And I have to say, ‘well, I don’t.’ ”
Bakke’s initial study determined that while more people than predicted liked wheat bread as well as or better than refined bread, those who disliked it did so emphatically and in all cases.
“I really think consumption of whole wheat bread is much lower than white bread because there is this group of consumers who only like white,” she expanded. “They’re dictating the choice, because other people like the two equally. So their preferences supersede others’ because everyone will like white bread, while maybe only 50 percent will like the wheat.”
So what is it that makes the other half dislike the healthier choice? Bakke thinks one key is sensitivity to the bitter compound 6-n-Propylthiouracil (PROP). People who are highly sensitive, called PROP super-tasters, tend to be more sensitive to bitterness in foods and like them less. PROP tasters are only moderately sensitive to the compound, and non-tasters cannot taste PROP at all at low concentrations.
Bakke found that super-tasters also were keyed into bread’s texture, which suggested to her that their tongues might have higher densities of fungiform papillae, the structures that house taste buds and sense texture. So she measured her subjects’ reactions to breads she had staled for different durations and found a correlation: super-tasters were far more sensitive to texture variation, while non-tasters actually had no preferences among the nine bread samples.
“Looking into fungiform papillae density and bitterness, PROP taster status and texture, how they’re tied together, that‘s a really new area,” Bakke explained. “I think it can inform people that there is variation in the public that might be affecting consumer preferences.”
Bakke, 25, will present her findings at the seventh annual Pangborn Sensory Conference in Minneapolis this year, and her work will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Food Science.
Bakke hopes that finished research might make an impact on her grocery-store shelves.
“I’m hoping that our work will establish at least some of the problems with whole wheat bread. Then it’s really up to manufacturers, maybe even wheat breeders, what they can do to fix those problems but maintain the healthiness of the bread, to create a product that all consumers can get nutritional benefits from and enjoy.” |
