Sensory and consumer science support for the food sensory preferences of cancer survivors

Improved cancer survival outcomes have resulted in an increasing population of cancer survivors who experience taste alterations and other symptoms that change perceptions and preferences for usual foods. Sensory and consumer (S&C) science techniques can guide food selection to support disease-associated increased nutrition needs. Knowledge of food sensory qualities combined with taste and smell assessment tools supports selective taste management strategies to modify the taste of familiar foods. Consumer science tools reveal changed food product perceptions and beliefs. The sensory qualities and acceptance of nutrient-dense food products can be optimized through sensory attribute diagnostic tools. S&C scientists are knowledgeable about food sensory characteristics and about the relationship among food ingredients, processing, and sensory attribute qualities, and are thus well poised to support the changed food sensory preferences among populations with chronic diseases.