Search Marsden awards 2008–2017

Recipient(s): Professor BJ James | PI | The University of Auckland
Dr N Gant | PI | The University of Auckland
Associate Professor MJ Hautus | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor EA Foegeding | AI | North Carolina State University

Public Summary: We have recently demonstrated that eating food with complex texture accelerates the satiation response, leading a subject to eat less. Complex textures might be a combination of many sensations (crunchy, creamy, crispy etc.) like a Ferero Rocher chocolate, or a few textures sensed with high intensity, like a tooth-breakingly hard gingernut biscuit.

Where current work in the field of oral processing has linked accelerated satiation to longer chewing time and effort, our work addresses an important knowledge gap by linking food texture directly to satiation, independent of other factors. We hypothesise the link between texture and satiation results from the cascade of sensations during chewing. We will take the novel approach of directly investigating the response of the brain to these sensations and linking them to food material properties and the perception of texture.

One of the things that stops us eating is the feeling of satiation, but the obesity epidemic indicates there is more to over-eating than that. We aim to clarify one aspect of the satiation mechanism, the role of food texture, and so contribute to the overall understanding of appetite and eating.