The influence of color on taste perception

Abstract

Background: Taste perception is a highly subjective process that involves the other special senses as well. The visual and olfactory signals play an important role in perception of taste. We use visual cues from color to identify and judge the quality and taste of what we eat. Color has a major impact on taste perception which seems to influence our taste buds more than olfactory sense. Aim and Objective: The objective of present study was to assess the influence of color of sucrose solution on its taste perception. Materials and Methods: About 53 female subjects in the age group of 17–20 years were asked to taste a fixed quantity of the sucrose solution of six different colors of same sucrose concentration. The subjects were asked to rate them according to sweetness scale of 1–10. The mean and standard deviation of the scores was obtained. Results: The purple colored solution was rated as highest sweetness (6.09 ± 2.09) followed by blue (5.9 ± 1.9), green (5.62 ± 1.97), red (5.11 ± 1.63), and yellow (4.20 ± 1.75). Conclusion: The clear sucrose solution was rated the same as the purple solution. The colors like purple and blue were perceived sweeter compared to red and yellow indicating that color of the solution does influence the perception of its taste.