Determing taste based on nutrition??

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Max Mustermann - 01 Feb 2005 16:22 GMT

Hi all,

I'm just wondering if there is some sort of formula to calculate what
kind of taste (salty, sour, bitter, sweet) an ingredient is.

For example, unsweetened lemon juice. If I have the nutritional
information for 1 cup of lemon juice, can I determine (based on the
nutrients and their amounts) what kind of taste it is.

Thanks,
Max

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Eric Bohlman - 02 Feb 2005 10:54 GMT

> Hi all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> information for 1 cup of lemon juice, can I determine (based on the
> nutrients and their amounts) what kind of taste it is.

No, because most of the taste (which is really actually mostly smell) of
foods isn't determined by either macronutrients or micronutrients, which
are all that nutritional-composition reports describe. For example, lemon
juice is sour because it contains a fair amount of citric acid, but citric
acid has no nutritional significance.

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MattLB - 02 Feb 2005 13:27 GMT

> > Hi all,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> juice is sour because it contains a fair amount of citric acid, but citric
> acid has no nutritional significance.

Not strictly true - both fat and glucose get converted to citric acid as
part of the energy production process - but it doesn't invalidate your
point.

MattLB

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