Research
Hormonal
Umami taste (savoury) enhances the satiating power of protein-rich foods, leading to greater compensation at subsequent meals, but has no effect on carbohydrate-rich or low-energy foods.
Use umami-rich ingredients (like mushrooms, tomatoes, or MSG) in protein-rich meals to enhance satiety and help you feel fuller longer. This effect is specific to protein-rich foods.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Adding MSG increased the initial palatability of these otherwise bland carrot soups, but post-consumption participants tended to feel fuller and compensate more at later test meal for the nutrients in the MSG-enhanced protein-rich soup, compared with the bland high-protein version.
Why this rating
Supported by specific studies (99, 100, 101) but requires congruent protein delivery.
Source
Sensory influences on food intake control: moving beyond palatability
Keri McCrickerd et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2015
DOI 10.1111/obr.12340
narrative_reviewCited 411×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Increasing food texture (harder, chewier, or more viscous) reduces meal size and improves satiety by slowing eating rate and increasing oral processing time, independent of caloric content.Good
- Increasing taste intensity (e.g., saltiness) while maintaining palatability reduces meal intake by approximately 9% through enhanced satiation, independent of how much the food is liked.Good
- Visual cues, particularly portion size and perceived volume, significantly influence food intake and post-meal satiety, often overriding physiological feedback.Good
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