Adding Flavours: Use of and Attitudes towards Sauces and Seasonings in a Sample of Community-Dwelling UK Older Adults

Abstract

Adding flavours can encourage food intake in older adults for health benefits. The use and attitudes of 22 community-dwelling UK older adults (15 females, aged 65-83 years) towards foods and products that add flavour, e.g., sauces and seasonings, were investigated. Participants used foods/products to add flavour when cooking and eating from 0 to 17 times/day. Taste and flavour were important, and foods/products could add flavour, make foods more pleasant and did not cause discomfort. There were concerns, however, over the healthiness of some foods/products, while consuming a healthy diet and one's health were important. Reasons for adding flavours largely centred around 'meal enhancement', reasons for not adding flavours focused on 'the product itself' and 'characteristics of the meal', but there was 'variation' and many 'individual differences'. Our findings highlight the benefits of adding flavours for food intakes, particularly the use of naturally flavoursome foods, such as herbs, spices, onion and garlic.