Using a statistical modeling program to identify words related to taste, texture, odor, spiciness, cost, health and customer service, scientists computed the number of reviews that mentioned each of these categories.
Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, Pa., analyzed nearly 400,000 food reviews posted by Amazon customers to gain real-world insight into the food choices that people make. The findings reveal that many people find the foods in today’s marketplace to be too sweet.
“This is the first study of this scale to study food choice beyond the artificial constraints of the laboratory,” says Danielle Reed, behavioral geneticist at Monell and lead author of the study. “Sweet was the most frequently mentioned taste quality, and the reviewers definitively told us that human food is over-sweetened.”