{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,5]],"date-time":"2026-11-05T06:02:47Z","timestamp":1793858567159,"version":"4.6.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788912000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key R&D Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2024YFD2101500"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024YFD2101500"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Foods"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Medicine and Food Homology (MFH) substances are often limited by bitter off-flavors that may limit consumer acceptance. This study employed a multimethod approach integrating electronic nose (E-nose), sensory evaluation, electronic tongue (E-tongue), gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS), and electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate bitterness perception in five representative MFH extracts (Chenpi, Lotus leaf, Sichuan pepper, Gardenia, and American ginseng). Sensory and E-tongue analyses revealed discrepancies between perceived and chemically measured bitterness. GC-IMS identified distinct volatile fingerprints, highlighting differences in aroma composition among samples. EEG results showed that several conventionally bitter extracts were primarily associated with low-frequency scalp-EEG activity (\u03b4\u2013\u03b1 bands), whereas Sichuan pepper showed an apparent delayed broadband increase extending into the \u03b2\u2013\u03b3 range. Descriptive scalp EEG patterns varied across MFH stimulation conditions, including differences at frontal and temporal electrodes. Overall, this study provides an exploratory multimethod characterization of the sensory, instrumental, and scalp-EEG responses elicited by different MFH extracts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/foods15183181","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T08:05:43Z","timestamp":1788941143000},"page":"3181","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Decoding Bitter Taste Perception in Medicine-Food Homology Substances: A Multimethod Data and Sensory Assessment Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6422-5933","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhu","family":"Tian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"},{"name":"College of Biological Science and Technology, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ji","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Shi-Fang","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Biological Science and Technology, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xu-Hui","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3902-3192","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lei","family":"Qin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6052-6520","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wei","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"347","article-title":"Essential role of medicine and food homology in health and wellness","volume":"15","author":"Chen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Chin. 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