Determination of acceptability of flavored oat bran frankfurters by older adults

The US population is aging rapidly and, within the next 25 years, 20-25% will be over age 60. This creates a vast new market for age-specific products and increases the responsibility of food scientists and nutritionists to provide appropriate foods for older adults. Many older individuals are energy deficient and need to be encouraged to consume more food in order to maintain body weight and health, but need to decrease the calories from fat in their diets. Many of diese older individuals are not inclined to eat foods that they enjoy for fear that these foodsmay be detrimental to their health (de Castro, 1993), or they have lost their gustational abilities to the degree that these foods are no longer enjoyable. This research looks at a possible solution to both problems by replacing fat in a favorite food of older adults and adjusting the flavor levels of this product. Frankfurters were made from mechanically deboned poultry meat in which standard commercial formulation was compared to three flavoring treatments using oat bran as a fat replacer (6% oat bran, 30% H2O). Mixed spices (traditional saucisson) were added to two of these treatments in standard and double proportions. Participants were 71 individuals over the age of 65 in varying levels of health from four regional care facilities. Seven gram, three-digit-coded samples were evaluated at 60°C, and scored on a nine-point hedonic scale. A significant (α = 0.0004) preference was shown for the double-spiced frank. No differences by sex or race were found. Research concluded that addition of flavoring aids in the increased acceptability of products by older adults.