The bliss point is the amount of an ingredient such as salt, sugar or fat which optimizes deliciousness (in the formulation of food products).
Pioneering work on the bliss point was carried out by American market researcher and psychophysicist Howard Moskowitz, known for his successful work in product creation and optimization for foods ranging from spaghetti sauce to soft drinks. [1] Moskowitz used the term, bliss point, to describe "that sensory profile where you like food the most." [2] [3]
The bliss point for salt, sugar, or fat is a range within which perception is that there is neither too much nor too little, but the "just right" amount of saltiness, sweetness, or richness. The human body has evolved to favor foods delivering these tastes: the brain responds with a "reward" in the form of a jolt of endorphins, remembers what we did to get that reward, and makes us want to do it again, an effect run by dopamine, a neurotransmitter. The human body needs salt for balancing fluids, sugar for energy, and fat for composing the brain. [4] Besides the physical and taste need for sugar, salt, and fat, foods that contain high amounts of these ingredients are typically visually appealing. The visual appeal can override suppressing appetite hormones for many people to consume these goods. [5] Combinations of sugar, fat, and salt act synergistically, and are more rewarding than any one alone. In food product optimization, the goal is to include two or three of these nutrients at their bliss point. [6]
Applications of the bliss point in the food industry have been criticized for encouraging addiction-like behaviors around eating which may contribute to obesity and other health issues. [1] [6]
Using 9 experiments, the relationship between pleasantness, sweetness, and concentrations of various sugars was able to be determined. This was conducted by Howard R. Moskowitz at the Pioneering Research Laboratory. Using the results of his studies and those from other scientists, Moskowitz was able to provide some science behind the idea of Bliss Point.
Set up
During the first 7 experiments, 32 sugars were judged based on sweetness and pleasantness. This was done by separate groups of observers, chosen from a pool of 63 volunteers. For the eighth experiment only 10 sugars were judged by 12 observers. And for the final experiment, only glucose and tagatose were judged by 13 observers.
Scale
Each observer was trained to match numbers to stimuli based on apparent length and area. There was no restriction to the number scale. Therefore, the scientist has to standardize the modulus of each observer. The 5 glucose stimuli that were given to each observer were multiplied by a factor that made the mean equal to 10. This served as a standardized scale across all 9 experiments. Using this method guaranteed the ratios of each observer's judgments and the slope of the sweetness function, S = kC^n (S: sweetness, C: concentration, k: relative sweetness), was unaffected.
Results
All the results were analyzed through PSYCHOFIT, a computer program that provided summary statistics and least-squares estimates. The results showed that the relative sweetness of sugars changes across all concentrations similarly; meaning it is nontonic. The pleasantness of sugars are not monotonic with concentration. However, the results show they depart from linearity at the extremes of concentration. [7]
Around the world people purchase and consume foods and drinks that are engineered to create the bliss point sensation. This has led to increased rates of negative health effects like:
Most people assume foods that are engineered to create the bliss point would be sweets. For example, biscuits, cake, chocolate, chips, etc.. These are the more obvious items that capitalize on its effects. However, a multitude of foods are not considered as bliss point items. These items include sauces, soups, dressings, etc.. If people took the time to check the ingredients, it would be evident that these grocery items contain high amounts of sugar, salt, and/or fat. [8]
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double sugars, are molecules made of two bonded monosaccharides; common examples are sucrose, lactose, and maltose. White sugar is a refined form of sucrose. In the body, compound sugars are hydrolysed into simple sugars.
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some garum-related fish sauces have been used in the West since the Roman times.
Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed by the gut directly into the blood of the portal vein during digestion. The liver then converts both fructose and galactose into glucose, so that dissolved glucose, known as blood sugar, is the only monosaccharide present in circulating blood.
Molasses is a viscous substance, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usually used to sweeten and flavour foods. Molasses is a major constituent of fine commercial brown sugar. It is also one of the main ingredients used to distill rum.
A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be derived through manufacturing of plant extracts or processed by chemical synthesis. Sugar substitute products are commercially available in various forms, such as small pills, powders, and packets.
Caramel is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, or as a topping for ice cream and custard.
Cornflour, cornstarch, maize starch, or corn starch is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or soups, and to make corn syrup and other sugars. Corn starch is versatile, easily modified, and finds many uses in industry such as adhesives, in paper products, as an anti-sticking agent, and textile manufacturing. It has medical uses as well, such as to supply glucose for people with glycogen storage disease.
Apple butter is a highly concentrated form of apple sauce produced by long, slow cooking of apples with apple juice or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes, turning the apple butter a deep brown. The concentration of sugar gives apple butter a much longer shelf life as a preserve than apple sauce.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzymes. To make HFCS, the corn syrup is further processed by D-xylose isomerase to convert some of its glucose into fructose. HFCS was first marketed in the early 1970s by the Clinton Corn Processing Company, together with the Japanese Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, where the enzyme was discovered in 1965.
Shrimp paste or prawn sauce is a fermented condiment commonly used in Southeast Asian and Coastal Chinese cuisines. It is primarily made from finely crushed shrimp or krill mixed with salt, and then fermented for several weeks. They are either sold in their wet form or are sun-dried and either cut into rectangular blocks or sold in bulk. It is an essential ingredient in many curries, sauces and sambal. Shrimp paste can be found in many meals in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is often an ingredient in dip for fish or vegetables.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the preparation of food:
D-Psicose (C6H12O6), also known as D-allulose, or simply allulose, is a low-calorie epimer of the monosaccharide sugar fructose, used by some major commercial food and beverage manufacturers as a low-calorie sweetener. First identified in wheat in the 1940s, allulose is naturally present in small quantities in certain foods.
The generic term for condiments in the Filipino cuisine is sawsawan. Unlike sauces in other Southeast Asian regions, most sawsawan are not prepared beforehand, but are assembled on the table according to the preferences of the diner.
Isomaltulose is a disaccharide carbohydrate composed of glucose and fructose. It is naturally present in honey and sugarcane extracts and is also produced industrially from table sugar (sucrose) and used as a sugar alternative.
Howard Moskowitz is an American market researcher and psychophysicist. He is known for the detailed study he made of the types of spaghetti sauce and horizontal segmentation. By providing a large number of options for consumers, Moskowitz pioneered the idea of intermarket variability as applied to the food industry.
Bliss point may refer to:
Added sugars or free sugars are sugar carbohydrates added to food and beverages at some point before their consumption. These include added carbohydrates, and more broadly, sugars naturally present in honey, syrup, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates. They can take multiple chemical forms, including sucrose, glucose (dextrose), and fructose.
Sweet soy sauce is a sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating in Indonesia, which has a darker color, a viscous syrupy consistency, and a molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar or jaggery. Kecap manis is widely used with satay. It is similar to, though finer in flavor than, Chinese Tianmian sauce (tianmianjiang). It is by far the most popular type of soy sauce employed in Indonesian cuisine and accounts for an estimated 90 percent of the nation's total soy sauce production.
Pure, White and Deadly is a 1972 book by John Yudkin, a British nutritionist and former Chair of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, London. Published in New York, it was the first publication by a scientist to anticipate the adverse health effects, especially in relation to obesity and heart disease, of the public's increased sugar consumption. At the time of publication, Yudkin sat on the advisory panel of the British Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA). He stated his intention in writing the book in the last paragraph of the first chapter: "I hope that when you have read this book I shall have convinced you that sugar is really dangerous."
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us is a book by Michael Moss published by Random House in 2013 that won the James Beard Foundation Award for Writing and Literature in 2014. It also was a number one New York Times bestseller in 2013. In his book, Moss cites examples from Kraft, Coca-Cola, Lunchables, Frito-Lay, Nestlé, Oreos, Capri Sun, and many more, where scientists calculate the combination of sugar, fat and salt for convenience food that is guaranteed to have an optimal appeal for the customer. The "conditioned hypereating" discussed in this book was also mentioned in a 2009 book by former FDA director David A. Kessler.