Most people would pucker up and want to get rid of the sour taste after biting into a lemon, but a recent study from Penn State researchers showed that approximately one in eight adults actually enjoy intensely sour sensations. The study, which was published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, demonstrated that there is a subset of ‘sour likers’ who have a preference for exceptionally sour foods.
Study demonstrates the existence of a group of adults who enjoy extremely sour foods.
John Hayes, a professor of food science and director of the Sensory Evaluation Center at Penn State, stated, “This is the first time it’s been convincingly shown that there is a segment of adults who likes strongly sour things.” Previous research has indicated that about one in three children enjoy intensely sour foods, but this was not directly tested in adults. A recent study, conducted in partnership with researchers in Italy, was the first to demonstrate that there is a significant proportion of adults who enjoy strongly sour foods.A significant number of individuals continue to enjoy sour flavors well beyond childhood, according to a new study. “Candies such as Warheads and Sour Patch Kids are popular among adults, indicating that there is a sizable market for sour treats in adulthood,” explained Hayes. A global research team aimed to challenge the common assumption that adults generally dislike sour tastes, hypothesizing that preferences for sourness would diminish with increasing intensity. They conducted tests in Italy and the United States, comparing liking patterns for sourness among individuals from different food cultures.
The study involved analyzing the reactions of 143 American adults to different concentrations of citric acid in water. They also studied the responses of 350 Italian adults to pear juice containing varying amounts of citric acid. The participants were chosen based on similar age, gender, and ethnicity, with the majority being white, and were from a metropolitan area in Tuscany, Italy, and from the municipality of State College.
Individuals were asked to assess the intensity and preference of a variety of samples with different levels of sourness. In both groups, the researchers identified three distinct response patterns: a significant decrease in preference for sour taste in one group, where liking decreased.
Many people have different reactions to sourness, with some people showing increased liking with increased sourness, an intermediate group who showed a decreased liking with more sourness, and a strong positive group where liking increased with more sourness.
“Most people didn’t like sourness, so if you just average across the entire group, then you’d conclude that more sour equals bad,” says Hayes. “But if you dig deeper, you find huge differences across people.”
By measuring levels of liking, the researchers were also able to test the hypothesis that “sour likers” might just be less sensitive to sour foods, the theory that higher concentrations of sourness for “sour likers”
According to Hayes, some people may have a higher tolerance for sourness compared to others. The study found that individuals who enjoy very sour flavors actually perceive them as just as sour as those who do not enjoy them, but they simply have a higher enjoyment of the taste. Interestingly, the research also found that both the Italian and American participants had similar responses to sourness, with a majority in the strong negative group and a smaller proportion in the strong positive group, indicating a potential stability of these response patterns across different cultures.
“Italian and American food cultures are very different,” said Sara Spinelli, a researcher from the University of Florence in Italy and the first author of the paper. “Yet, we have almost identical percentages, which suggests that this is not due to prior exposure. It’s probably something inherently different about the people. We don’t know what that is, but it tells us that it’s not just the foods you grew up with.”
The researchers observed that the data support the existence of previously unexplored taste profiles that react positively to sour flavors. Since sourness is traditionally considered to be aDespite sourness being considered a negative sensory attribute, the researchers found that about 1 in 8 participants from both countries actually showed an increase in liking as sourness increased. Spinelli emphasized the importance of considering individual differences and potential consumer segments, rather than just averaging responses across all individuals. This approach could lead to the development of tailored products that take into account specific preferences.The taste profile of “sour liker” is being studied. According to the researchers, this could encourage the consumption of healthier foods and drinks that are lower in sweetness but still appealing to consumers.
