Section II: Metabolic Function, Chemoreception & Biosignals

The taste of food has a significant influence on food selection. But how do odor-, taste-, and chemestetically-active food ingredients have to interact with our chemoreceptors at the molecular level to make a food taste particularly good to us? What other chemoreceptor-mediated effects do they have on the human body or other biosystems (e.g. gut microbiota) that go beyond sensory perception? For example, do they also affect metabolic pathways that regulate body weight? And is there a way to predict the sensory as well as health effects of complex combinations of food ingredients?

Scientists in Section II are exploring all of these questions to find new, innovative ways to advance food reformulation and develop personalized nutrition concepts. To this end, they collaborate with researchers in Sections I and III.