2024 March

A decade ago, in a field of orange trees in southern Greece, Stéphane Tawil realised that he had lost his sense of smell – completely.Tawil was with friends who were remarking on the perfumed scent of oranges. But he couldn’t smell anything.Costly condition‘I got a cold before this and when you have a cold you usually lose that sense of smell,’ Tawil said. ‘I remember not paying much attention to it. But then it lasted for quite a while.’

Nature Communications - Perception and appreciation of food flavour depends on many factors, posing a challenge for effective prediction. Here, the authors combine extensive chemical and sensory...

Worksheets and videos on the molecules responsible for flavour, and how cooking affects cell walls.

Discover the most famous mango varieties in India, from the rich sweetness of Alphonso to the tanginess of Totapuri. Learn about their unique properties and tastes.

Siraitia grosvenorii (SG), also known as Luo Han Guo or Monk fruit, boasts a significant history in food and medicine. This review delves into SG’s historical role and varied applications in traditional Chinese culture, examining its phytochemical composition and the health benefits of its bioactive compounds. It further explores SG’s biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic properties and elucidates the mechanisms behind these effects. The review also highlights recent synthetic biology advances in enhancing the production of SG’s bioactive compounds, presenting new opportunities for broadening their availability. Ultimately, this review emphasizes SG’s value in food and medicine, showcasing its historical and cultural importance, phytochemistry, biological functions, action mechanisms, and the role of synthetic biology in its sustainable use.

Detecting food fraud or confirming the authenticity, which falls within the general concept of food integrity, is a complex problem. Modern analytics …

A study led by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and published in the journal Ecological Economics provides important insights into the future of food labeling in the EU. By ...

Join Dr. Sandi and neuroscientist Rachel Herz as they unravel the secrets behind how smells influence our eating habits. Here's what you can expect:👃 Discover the hidden connection between scent and taste.🍽️ Learn how aroma enhances the enjoyment of your favorite foods.💭 Uncover the surprising ways food scents affect your cravings and hunger.💡 Gain insights into the psychology behind our food choices.🔍 Explore the science of scent and its impact on our daily lives.Don't miss out on this captivating discussion!

Not just a guilty pleasure.

Scents, such as coffee, flowers, or freshly baked pumpkin pie, are created by odor molecules released by various substances and detected by our noses.

In retail, fragrance cues are nothing to be sniffed at. Indeed, the scent of vanilla, baking bread, even fresh linen, can affect customer behavior, according to a study published in the International ...

Modern humans aren't the only ones who enjoy a glass of beer. In fact, a recipe for the fermented grain beverage has been around for thousands of years.

The determination of odor threshold values can be performed in various matrices, including air, and serves as a parameter to compare the potencies of odorous compounds. Typically, the odor thresholds in air are determined by gas chromatography–olfactory (GC–O) and referenced to an internal standard, most often (E)-dec-2-enal. Herein, a direct gas chromatography-flame ionization detector-olfactory analysis method for the determination of odor thresholds in air is reported. As model substrates for this novel approach, naturally occurring substances (R)-1-p-menthene-8-thiol as well as (3S,3aS,6R,7aS)-3,6-dimethyl-3a,4,5,6,7,7a-hexahydro-3H-1-benzofuran-2-one were used. The latter compound was synthesized from (−)-isopulegol and exhibited an extremely low odor recognition threshold of 1.9 × 10–6 ng L–1 air, the lowest value reported for a fungal aroma compound thus far.

Chewing gum is a big part of American pop culture, but its origins are far older. Learn about how an indigenous substance influenced the chewing gum of today.

Growing ‘controversy’ and ‘confusion’ around alternative sweeteners is impacting consumer trust. What should manufacturers’ next steps be?

Growing demand for the tasty and healthy food has driven the development of low-calorie sweeteners, sweet taste modulators, and bitter masking compounds originated from natural sources. With the di...

Arielle Johnson chases deliciousness by taking science and making it fashion.

The secrets of ancient Roman wine are being uncorked by modern science.

Mislabeling the geographical origin of coffee is a prevalent form of fraud. In this study, a rapid, nondestructive, and high-throughput method combini…

A small team of chemical engineers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, working with a colleague from IA Murins Startups, has developed a way to use machine learning to replicate odors ...

Tracing an orange's flavor could help us get both disease resistance and taste.

Air fryers have received a lot of attention in recent years for recreating a crispy texture much akin to fried foods - but what does the appliance really do?

A living organism's nose is essentially a biological molecule detector that sends neurological signals to the brain, which then decodes a particular scent. Human noses, with six million olfactory receptors, ...

Bacon and eggs go together like toast and jam -- they just make sense. But why? What about this exact combination is so good? Science has the answer.

Before Dom Pérignon, champagne would often explode as temperatures rose. Thanks to his know-how, he configured the bottles to prevent them from popping.

Artificial intelligence has been used to replicate fragrances more quickly than conventional methods, even taking into account how a scent fades over time

Glucose, galactose, fructose, saccharose, lactose, maltose… sont ce qu’on appelle couramment les sucres. Compte tenu des effets sur la santé que peut provoquer une consommation excessive de sucre,

Parallel processing is a fundamental strategy of sensory coding. Through this processing, unique and distinct features of sensations are computed and projected to the central targets. This review proposes that mitral and tufted cells, which are the second-order projection neurons in the olfactory bulb, contribute to parallel processing within the olfactory system. Based on anatomical and functional evidence, I discuss potential features that could be conveyed through the unique channel formed by these neurons.