The role of Sensory Science in healthier eating topped the agenda for this year’s Dairy Council Nutrition Lecture at Ulster University’s Coleraine campus, where Professor Ciarán Forde gave an insightful presentation into sensory cues and their influential role in shaping ‘what’ and ‘why’ we eat.
The annual lecture, hosted in partnership with Ulster University’s Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE), welcomed more than 100 nutrition students, academics and health professionals to discuss the topic: ‘A Sensory Journey into Healthier Eating - How Sensory Cues are the Hidden Ingredient in Future Healthy Diets’.
Chair of the Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, Professor Forde looked at nutrition patterns through a sensory lens, highlighting potential opportunities to shape public health strategies that work with, rather than against, human behaviour.
Professor Forde’s research places sensory cues including food texture, and taste at the intersection of food science, nutrition and consumer behaviour, suggesting that food choice and eating behaviours are influenced more by these subtle differences in the nutritional properties of the food being consumed.
Speaking at the lecture, Professor Forde said:
“Food has no nutritional value until it has been chosen, accepted and consumed. By understanding how the senses guide not only our food choices, but our eating behaviours and energy intake, we can create foods and environments that encourage healthier, more sustainable diets. Food texture, for example, offers the potential to guide energy intake within meals, while simultaneously moderating food digestion and metabolism for ingested nutrients post-meal.
“Using sensory properties to promote healthier eating behaviours can inform the development of successful dietary strategies that keep food enjoyment and satisfaction at the heart of healthy eating.”
Chief Executive of the Dairy Council, Ian Stevenson, commended the insights shared by Professor Forde and the continued success of the annual event. He said:
“This lecture remains a valuable platform on the nutrition calendar, bringing together students, academics and health professionals to hear from world-leading experts in their respective fields. Thank you to Professor Forde for sharing these rich insights into sensory cues, and to our long-time partners Ulster University for their continued support.”
This year’s event was the 36th lecture, which has for more than three decades facilitated knowledge-sharing on the frontier of human nutrition by welcoming leading researchers to Northern Ireland.
Professor Helene McNulty, Professor of Human Nutrition and Dietetics Nutritional Science and Director of NICHE at Ulster, reflected on the longstanding success of the Annual Nutrition Lecture
“Each year, this event spotlights the work of some of the world’s global leaders in nutritional science. Professor Forde’s contribution this year offered highly valuable insights into the important area of sensory science and how it can support the promotion of healthier future diets for consumers across the life course.”
Nutrition and health professionals can read a short summary of Professor Forde's Lecture here.