Development and Validation of An Spanish Labeled Magnitude Scale For Sweetness Evaluation

DROLAS, M.C.; SABECKIS, L.; SARCHI, M.I.; DRUNDAY, F.; CALVIÑO, A.M.

International Journal of Applied Science and Technology

Center for Promoting Ideas

Año: 2012 vol. 2 p. 170 - 179

2221-1004

Relevance The quantitative scales allow us to measure and find differences in the intensity of a given sensory property for several products. Thus, in this study a new labeled magnitude scale in Spanish language is proposed to evaluate the perception of sweetness. This methodology helps food industry in the application of new scales, easy to use by the attached labels and with ratio properties similar to magnitude estimation method. Abstract A labeled magnitude scale (LMS) in spanish language was developed and validated to assess sweetness. The LMS allows assessors to make their estimates with respect to the greatest imaginable sweetness. LMS offers a continuum, anchored in verbal descriptors ranging from slightly detectable/ligeramente detectable to the greatest imaginable/lo más grande imaginable. The analysis showed that five descriptors: weakly sweet (WE/débilmente dulce), moderately sweet (MO/moderadamente dulce), fairly sweet (FA/bastante dulce), very sweet (VE/muy dulce) and greatest imaginable sweetness (GI/dulzor más grande imaginable) were the main contributors to make this scale. The average values assigned to these descriptors indicate that "WE," "MO," "FA" and "VE" represent 5, 18, 31 and 43% of the sweetness scale, and finally "GI" was to be placed at the top, at 100% of the scale. This LMS scale was applied to measure sweetness of sucrose and Stevia rebaudiana extracts which were also evaluated by magnitude estimation (ME) and another general LMS (gLMS) in the context of evoked oral sensation. Significant differences in the rate of growth of sweetness appears for both compounds, where sucrose showed more steeper functions than S. rebaudiana extract. Comparying with ME, sweetness ratings with LMS show a steepness concentration-response function. Finally, rates of growth of sweetness functions obtained with ME and gLMS, were similar, yielding ratio-level data. Keywords: labeled magnitude scale, narrow context, broad context, sweetness, magnitude estimation