Reliability of the sensory responder classification to learned flavor cues: a test-retest study

Previous work from this laboratory has examined the extent to which learned associations between the flavor of food and the caloric consequences of food ingestion influence daily energy intake in humans. We have consistently identified a subset of subjects, called sensory responders, whose intakes were strongly guided by flavor cues. Sensory responders were identified on the basis of post hoc examination of energy intake patterns. The purpose of this study was to confirm the reliability of this classification scheme using a test-retest paradigm. Eighteen normal-weight, free-living adults participated in the study. Subjects were first fed a high-calorie lunch with distinctive flavors for 5 consecutive days then a low-calorie lunch with different distinctive flavors for an additional 5 days. Following this training, the flavors in the lunches were covertly switched. Subjects whose intakes were influenced by the change in the flavor cues were classified as sensory responders and those whose intakes were not influenced by the switch in the flavor cues were classified as sensory nonresponders. Subjects then repeated the protocol. All subjects who were classified as sensory responders at the end of the first trial were similarly classified at the end of the second trial, indicating that their initial responses were reliable.