Abstract The aim of the present study is to explore the association between food neophobia and chemosensory responsiveness and to determine whether this association translates into different food liking and preference patterns. Data were collected on 1225 respondents (61% females, age 20–60 years) as part of the Italian Taste project. Respondents completed the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) as well as a food preference and familiarity questionnaire for a number of foods and beverages categorized as mild or strong tasting. Moreover, they evaluated attribute intensity and liking of an actual food (dark chocolate pudding) varying in the level of sweetness, bitterness and astringency. Taste function was evaluated by measuring fungiform papillae density (FPD), responsiveness to PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) and to water solutions representing various oro-sensory qualities. High, medium and low neophobic subjects did not differ for FPD and chemosensory responsiveness. Reported liking was significantly lower for high neophobics than low neophobics mainly for those vegetables and beverages characterized by high levels of warning stimuli (i.e. bitterness, sourness, astringency and alcohol), whereas almost no differences were found for the bland versions of food items. High and medium neophobics rated astringency and, to a lesser extent, bitterness of the dark chocolate pudding, as more intense than low neophobics and liked the most bitter and astringent variants significantly less than low neophobics. Differences in liking, however, do not seem to be mediated by high food neophobics’ superior taste functioning but rather by higher levels of arousal when eating food and/or drinking beverages that are perceived as unpleasant and potentially dangerous. Finally, the effect of food neophobia was evident not only for unusual items in the Italian food context, but even for items that might be considered highly familiar.

中文翻译：

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食物新恐惧症与对大量人口样本中食品中“警告”化学感应感觉的反应之间的关联

摘要 本研究的目的是探索食物新恐惧症与化学感应反应之间的关联，并确定这种关联是否会转化为不同的食物喜好和偏好模式。作为 Italian Taste 项目的一部分，收集了 1225 名受访者（61% 为女性，20-60 岁）的数据。受访者完成了食物新恐惧症量表 (FNS) 以及食物偏好和熟悉度调查问卷，这些问卷调查了许多归类为味道温和或强烈的食物和饮料。此外，他们评估了甜度、苦味和涩味程度不同的实际食物（黑巧克力布丁）的属性强度和喜好。通过测量菌状乳头密度（FPD）来评估味觉功能，对 PROP（6-n-丙基硫氧嘧啶）和代表各种口腔感官品质的水溶液的反应性。高、中和低新恐惧症受试者在 FPD 和化学感应反应方面没有差异。报告的高新恐惧症患者的喜好显着低于低新恐惧症者，主要是那些以高水平警告刺激（即苦味、酸味、涩味和酒精）为特征的蔬菜和饮料，而对清淡的食物几乎没有发现差异。高和中等新恐惧症患者对黑巧克力布丁的涩味和苦味的评价程度低于低新恐惧症患者，并且对最苦和最涩的变体的喜爱程度明显低于低新恐惧症患者。然而，喜好的不同，似乎不是由高食物新恐惧症患者的卓越味觉功能介导的，而是由食用食物和/或饮用被认为令人不快且有潜在危险的饮料时更高水平的唤醒所介导的。最后，食物新恐症的影响不仅对意大利食物环境中的不寻常物品很明显，甚至对可能被认为非常熟悉的物品也是如此。