Unpleasant odors impair our mood and may affect physical health, even when the odorants are not toxic. A possible cause for such negative effects is stress induced by odors; however, whether the unpleasantness itself elicited stress or not has not been clear. Thus, we examined whether unpleasantness of odors induced the stress responses of emotion, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Six experiments were conducted, where salivary cortisol or salivary alpha amylase (sAA), markers for activities of the HPA and the SNS, respectively, were measured, along with subjective ratings of odors and emotion. First, the responses to three malodors listed in the Offensive Odor Control Law in Japan were examined. While these odors were rated as unpleasant, and exposure to them increased anxiety, no response of the HPA was observed (experiment 1, n = 69). In contrast, an increase of the SNS activity was observed after exposure to two of the three malodors, while the SNS did not respond to pleasant odors (experiments 2-4, n = 35, 34 and 30). To examine the effect of unpleasantness further, the SNS response was examined while subjective unpleasantness of odors was manipulated by adding negative verbal information (experiment 5, n = 92), or by mixing in a pleasant odor (experiment 6, n = 35). The SNS responses upon inhalation of the same odorous substances were found to be dependent on whether they were perceived as unpleasant. Finally, a correlation analysis on the pooled data from experiments 2-6 showed that the odor-elicited SNS activity and anxiety were strongly correlated with perceived unpleasantness of odors. These results suggest that subjective unpleasantness of odors per se can induce the stress response of emotion and the SNS.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.03.018 | DOI Listing |
Food Res Int
February 2025
State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, School of Tea and Food Science & Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China; Key Laboratory of Jianghuai Agricultural Product Fine Processing and Resource Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, School of Tea and Food Science & Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China. Electronic address:
This study aimed to investigate the effect of the combination of shaking and various anaerobic treatments on the aroma quality of gabaron oolong tea (GAOT) by chemical and sensory evaluation. The results showed that elevated anaerobic treatment harmed GAOT aroma, emphasizing undesirable attributes such as earthy, fatty, etc. A total of 85 volatiles were identified by gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS), and the relationship between aroma attributes and volatiles were revealed by PLS regression projection and correlation network.
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February 2025
Yibin Research Institute of Tea Industry, Yibin 644005, PR China.
The present study aim to investigate the effects of three drying processes on the flavor-related compounds and sensory quality of summer black tea. A total of 234 flavonoids and 1200 volatile compounds were identified in tea samples by using UPLC-MS/MS and HS-SPME-GC-MS, respectively. It was found that the combining hot-air and roasting drying process increased the level of epigallocatechin, epicatechin, gallic acid, theaflavins, and umami and sweet amino acids in tea samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAPL Bioeng
March 2025
Biomedical Engineering Unit, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50121 Florence, Italy.
Olfactory perception can be studied in deep brain regions at high spatial resolutions with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but this is complex and expensive. Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) are limited to cortical responses and lower spatial resolutions but are easier and cheaper to use. Unlike EEG, available fNIRS studies on olfaction are few, limited in scope, and contradictory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiome
January 2025
Instituto de Investigación de La Viña y El Vino, Escuela de Ingeniería Agraria, Universidad de León, Avenida de Portugal, 41, León, 24009, Spain.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Chengfa Urban Service Technology (Henan) Co., Ltd, Zhengzhou, 450002, People's Republic of China.
In order to study the change rule of freshness and acid ions in reconstituted tobacco slurry, the content changes of 17 organic acids and 5 inorganic anions in reconstituted tobacco slurry with different residence times under confined condition were determined by on-line solid-phase extraction ion chromatography in this study. The results showed that the changes of acetic acid, nitrate ion and isovaleric acid in different reconstituted tobacco slurries with oscillation time were regular and consistent, and the trends of the changes of acetic acid, nitrate ion and isovaleric acid in different reconstituted tobacco slurries with oscillation time were correlated with each other in a highly significant way. Taking the evaluation of olfactory aroma and sensory quality qualities of reconstituted tobacco pulps with different residence times as a benchmark, it was found that the variation patterns of nitrate ions and isovaleric acid in reconstituted tobacco pulps with oscillation time were consistent with the variation patterns of olfactory and sensory qualities in the process of closed oscillation; compared with the fresh pulp, the olfactory aroma and sensory qualities of tobacco pulps had unpleasant odours appearing when the content of nitrate ions was reduced by about 48%.
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