Some time ago I'd heard this about vegetarians. The first thing that went through my mind was 'how did the heck did they test that?' Geez, that's a study I wouldn't be lining up for!!! Although there's enough sickos out there that maybe they wouldn't have too much trouble finding volunteers, on either side of the taste testing.I've done sensory evaluation tests before, whether it be tasting salsa or pizza, and evaluating several aspects from taste to texture to smell to hotness. I've even done olfactory testing on, ahem, poop smell? I know it sounds weird, but in this study they were trying to figure out the concentration of pig barn smell that could be in the air before it was detectable to the human nose... so I'm assuming I was smelling pig poo air, or more likely a component of it. ANYWAYS, the point being that these sensory types of tests are very common in research, I'm just not sure about actually tasting people. I'm sure it's done outside of the research setting all the time, hehe (as well as the olfactory thing, I know I've been forced to smell things against my will, which is completely unethical btw).
Anyways, I digress. In designing the study, there are so many things to consider. For instance, there's something called the contrast effect... meaning if you taste something really good and then taste something average, the average thing tastes worse. Whereas if you taste something awful and then something average, the average thing tastes awesome. So designing the study to be blinded and randomized, etc, would be quite the task. Hmm, there would be so many confounders, let alone difficulties with ethics and recruitment, that I'm sure it will never be done.
In my speculation, tastes are variable and a matter of perception, but I actually wouldn't doubt that vegetarians taste better. As a rule, they are more health conscious, and I could imagine that a healthy person would be tastier than a greasy hamburger eatin' fatso. Now, would this be because a person who tends to be health conscious is also more aware of their hygeine? Perhaps. Although if granola-type people are healthier, uh, they definitely DON'T smell like it. Also, one thing I'm not sure of, is how long does it take for the digestive tract of a person converting to vegetarianism to adjust to the higher fibre diet? This could pose a smelly conundrum. Geez, this gets more complicated the more I think about it!
Anyways, I won't be writing the grant on that one... I think I'll stick to studying what goes into the body, rather than whatever comes out.
3 comments:
Interesting topic. As a nutritionist you should be interested in studies that correlate flatulance with certain diets. More specifically, what substances cause flatulance and what intake substances cause the odor in farts(can I say that on your blog?). Further, what substances in the emissions have odor and which odor is attributable to which substance. There is a world of available research out there for a nutritionist.
The analysing of substances in emmisions is easily accomplished and volunteers to provide emmissions will probably not be a problem(your family), but obtaining odor detectors and differentiating them might be problematic since this can only be done with the human nose.
Funding should not be a problem since flatulance contributes to environmental CO2 and changing the diets of Canadians could help us reach our Kyoto Accord obligations.
I think you should rethink your grant application situation. There is a lot of available government money out there to reduce CO2----probably a lot more than for something like diabetes!.
On the topic of your meat eater theory, and since I consider myself an expert on feces and flatulence, I would have to say that someone on a low carb, high meat diet would like taste nasty because of all the ketones they are producing are bound to result in a slightly rotten "off" taste. This is in the context of frying up a big human steak on the barbie. Vegetarians on the other hand, would mostly be composed of vegetable-derived proteins, and would likely not be in a state of ketosis due to the higher carbohydrate nature of thier diets. It is to note however, with the lower intake of saturated fat, and thus a higher level of poly and monounsaturates, meat may become undesirable upon cooking due to the oxidation of these fats in high temperatures. So in fact, vegetarians might impart a slightly "fishy" odour should we decide to eat them.
On the other hand, I disagree with Mich on the flatulence theory. This is because diet has a profound impact on our microflora. While the volume and occasional odour of the vegetarian flatulence might seem a concern, a meat eater's microflora is much more noxious and of greater concern. In a meat eater's large intestine, there are more putrefactive bacteria, resulting in extremely rotten and unpleasant odours, and a whole slew of carcinogenic substances among which is hydrogen sulphide, A VERY toxic chemical known to kill humans.
A vegetarian's microflora, on the other hand, is composed more of carbohydrate (fibre)-digesting bacteria, which are more likely to produce innocuous but voluminous gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and hydrogen. Methane may also be a concern but has less to do with the type of diet than which bacteria we are colonised with. These innocuous gases (even methane) tend not to have a stong odour. However, it is possible that they are contributing to greenhouse gases, since methane is one of the worst green house gases, vegetarians should take measures to reduce these emmissions by placing a tube in their butts attached to a plastic sac, where one can collect the gases discreetly in a backpack. Then, at the end of the day, one can hook this sac up to a gas fireplace or oven, and in turn lower their propane bills (and impact on the environment).
So while a vegetarians farts may contain more gusto, its the silent but deadly meat eaters farts that are toxic to the environment, since these emmisions cannot be collected and efficiently used as an alternative fuel source. So take heed, and never feed a meat eater beef chili, since then you are providing them with meat for putrefaction and carbohydrates (beans) for propelling action. A deadly and not so silent combination.
Thanks for the fart catcher idea Rose, perhaps I can get the specs on it for my grant application.
By the way, I disagree with the "fishy" thing. The polyunsaturates don't oxidize that quickly... and fish flavoured food doesn't transfer to uh, err fishy flavour. Ahem, or so I've been told!
jk;)
or am I?
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