Development of a Mobile App to Monitor the Effectiveness of a Hydrolyzed Cartilage Matrix Supplement on Joint Discomfort: Real-World Study.

BACKGROUND: Joint discomfort is a widespread and growing problem in active adults. The rising interest in preventative nutrition has increased the demand for supplements reducing joint discomfort. Protocols assessing the effect of a nutritional intervention on health commonly involve a series of face-to-face meetings between participants and study staff that can weigh on resources, participant availabilities, and even increase dropout rates. Digital tools are increasingly added to protocols to facilitate study conduct, but fully digitally run studies are still scarce. With the increasing interest in real-world studies, the development of health apps for mobile devices to monitor study outcomes is of great importance. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this real-world study was to develop a specific mobile app, Ingredients for Life, to conduct a 100% digital study testing the effectiveness of a hydrolyzed cartilage matrix (HCM) supplement on joint discomfort in a heterogeneous group of healthy, active consumers. METHODS: The Ingredients for Life mobile app using a visual analog scale was specifically developed to monitor the variation in joint pain after exercise by the study participants. A total of 201 healthy and physically active women and men (18-72 years old) with joint pain completed the study over a period of 16 weeks. Participants were randomly allocated to the study groups and did not receive any dietary or lifestyle advice. Each participant indicated one area of joint pain and logged the type and duration of their weekly activities. They received blinded study supplements and took a daily regimen of 1 g of HCM (HCM group) or 1 g of maltodextrin (placebo group) for 12 weeks while weekly logging joint pain scores in the app. This was followed by a 4-week washout period during which participants continued reporting their joint pain scores (until the end of week 16). RESULTS: Joint pain was reduced within 3 weeks of taking a low dosage of HCM (1 g/day), regardless of gender, age group, and activity intensity when compared with the placebo group. After stopping supplementation, joint pain scores gradually increased but still remained significantly lower than those of the placebo group after 4 weeks of washout. The low dropout rate (<6% of participants, mainly in the placebo group) demonstrates that the digital study was well received by the study population. CONCLUSIONS: The digital tool allowed us to measure a heterogeneous group of active adults in a real-world setting (without any lifestyle intervention), thus promoting inclusivity and diversity. With low dropout rates, it demonstrates that mobile apps can generate qualitative, quantifiable, real-world data showcasing supplement effectiveness. The study confirmed that the oral intake of a low dose (1 g/day) of HCM led to a significant reduction of joint pain from 3 weeks after starting supplementation.

Development of a sensory wheel and lexicon for chocolate.

Cocoa is one of the most important cultivated crops worldwide both in production and processing. But due to the change in weather conditions, pest and diseases, producers are looking into new bean varieties and alternatives (e.g. carob) which can influence the sensory properties of chocolate. But also the other ingredients, the production process and storage conditions play a role in the sensory properties of chocolate products. Although chocolate has been widely used as a product for scientific research, especially given its association with the arousal of pleasure by consumers, there is a lack of a sensory lexicon of chocolate products generated by consumers. This study aims to identify sensory characteristics with respect to the four sensory modalities (appearance, aroma, texture and flavour), which are important for chocolate consumption and visualize them in a chocolate sensory wheel. Five focus groups with consumers (n = 48) generated in total 104 descriptors using a range of white (5 different samples), milk (8 different samples) and dark (9 different samples) chocolate samples. A three-tiered chocolate sensory wheel, comprising the 4 sensory modalities, 21 categories and 61 descriptors, was created to form a graphical presentation of the sensory lexicon. Based on the descriptors obtained from the five focus groups, in total nine commercial samples of white, milk and dark chocolate were characterised using descriptive analysis by a trained sensory panel. The results of the descriptive analysis show that samples can be differentiated based on the attributes of the sensory lexicon. Given that identifying, understanding and using the most important sensory characteristics is crucial for companies but also for scientists using chocolate products, this chocolate sensory lexicon will be of added value in new product development and quality assurance.

Impact of Health Labels on Flavor Perception and Emotional Profiling: A Consumer Study on Cheese.

The global increase of cardiovascular diseases is linked to the shift towards unbalanced diets with increasing salt and fat intake. This has led to a growing consumers' interest in more balanced food products, which explains the growing number of health-related claims on food products (e.g., "low in salt" or "light"). Based on a within-subjects design, consumers (n = 129) evaluated the same cheese product with different labels. Participants rated liking, saltiness and fat flavor intensity before and after consuming four labeled cheeses. Even though the cheese products were identical, inclusion of health labels influenced consumer perceptions. Cheese with a "light" label had a lower overall expected and perceived liking compared to regular cheese. Although cheese with a "salt reduced" label had a lower expected liking compared to regular cheese, no lower liking was found when consumers actually consumed the labeled cheese. All labels also influenced the perceived intensities of the attributes related to these labels, e.g., for example salt intensity for reduced salt label. While emotional profiles of the labeled cheeses differed before tasting, little differences were found when actual tasting these cheeses. In conclusion, this study shows that health-related labels might influence the perceived flavor and emotional profiles of cheese products.

An integrated method for the emotional conceptualization and sensory characterization of food products: The EmoSensory® Wheel.

Although acceptability is commonly used to examine liking for food products, more studies now emphasize the importance of measuring consumers' conceptualizations, such as emotions for food products. It is also important to identify how consumers perceive the sensory attributes of food products, as illustrated by the increasing involvement of consumers in product characterization. The objective of this paper is to examine the use of a wheel-format questionnaire to obtain both an emotional and sensory profiles for food products using a hands-on consumer tool. Terms selected were product-specific and the rate-all-that-apply (RATA) approach was used as a scaling technique. Three different experiments demonstrated that the EmoSensory® Wheel could discriminate within and between food product categories. The added value of the RATA approach was illustrated in the sample discrimination for some food products when using the weighted attribute scores for analysis. The tool was used in both blind and informed conditions to illustrate its applicability across different experimental designs. In general, the respondents did not find the task tedious when using the wheel-questionnaire format, demonstrating the potential for collecting information in a more facile way. Although further studies with other food products are needed, this paper shows the potential for using this wheel format to obtain information about consumers' emotional and sensory profiling of food products.

The consumption of flavored milk among a children population. The influence of beliefs and the association of brands with emotions.

Although milk and dairy products are seen as an important part of a child's diet, their consumption is declining. The aim of this study is to investigate the consumption of milk and flavored milk among a sample of 513 Belgian children aged between 8 and 13 years. In addition, the association between flavored milk brands and emotions is examined. Children prefer and consume more flavored than plain milk. They indicate that consumption is a self-made choice and that parents mainly ensure the availability of these products. Children prefer flavored milk to plain milk, although it is perceived to be less healthy. No correlation could be found between brand awareness and the consumption of flavored milk. Brands of flavored milk evoke divergent emotions and can be classified into different groups based upon their association with a type of emotion (i.e. positive/negative). This study demonstrates that taste is an important factor in flavored milk consumption by children and shows a strong relationship between brands and emotions. Consequently, the taste needs to be appealing for children, but it is equally important that children associate the brand with positive emotions, as this will lead to a higher preference. Milk producers who target children can use the insights gained from this study in the development of new products.