What kind of chocolate eater are you?

Came across this funny article. It drew my attention because of my interest in chocolate. It seems from this research that their are three kinds of chocolate eaters: “fast chewers”, “thorough chewers” and “suckers”. The thorough chewers take a significant time for chewing on the chocolate and chew a lot more than the other two groups. Fast chewers keep the chocolate in their mouth for a much shorter time with a significant higher chew rate. Suckers are those that suck on the chocolate rather then chew on it, they also take more time for consuming the chocolate. They chew less but they score high on the swallowing. These findings were independent of the kind of chocolate. The researchers used two kinds of chocolate. I’m afraid I’m a fast chewer, that’s why I need more chocolate. So what kind of chocolate eater are you?

What can you evaluate when eating chocolate?

hardness at first bite (force to bite into chocolate with front teeth), speed of melting (measure of time taken to become molten chocolate), smoothness (of bolus, as opposed to gritty/grainy), thickness (perceived viscosity of molten chocolate) and mouthcoating (extent to which residue coats the mouth after swallowing).

How was this study done?

The objective of this study was to employ EMG and EEG to investigate variation in the individual eating behaviour of chocolate and to determine if changes in eating behaviour relate to observed textural differences between two chocolate samples.

Why is this important?
Characterization of chocolate eating behaviour is important as it will help understand its influence on consumer perception of its texture and flavour. Moreover, it’s possible that chocolate eating behaviour could impact on consumer liking levels and the amount of chocolate eaten, and by association weight gain.
Previous investigations have shown that consumer preferences for biscuits may be related to the way a sample breaks downs in mouth whilst chewing, chewing and swallowing influences the sensory perception of food, ‘Slow’ eating has also been shown to decrease food intake and result in increased satiety.

Carvalho-da-Silva, A., Van Damme, I., Wolf, B., & Hort, J. (2011). Characterisation of chocolate eating behaviour Physiology & Behavior, 104 (5), 929-933 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.06.001