The Acceptability of Foods Containing Hazelnut Oil: the Benefits of Vitamin E and Hazelnut Oil

Vitamin E is one of the most important fat-soluble vitamins involved in various metabolic pathways. Antioxidants, such as Vitamin E, help to prevent against heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and Alzheimers disease. Hazelnuts have a high concentration of vitamin E. Improving the intake of vitamin E by consumption of hazelnut oil, may have beneficial health outcomes. The effect of replacing soybean oil with hazelnut oil on selected hedonic characteristics of various food products was determined in 80 participants using a nine-point hedonic scale. Products were rated for appearance, taste, texture, and overall acceptability. To avoid order effects, a split plot factorial analysis of variance was used. There were no significant between-product differences, except for the values of appearance, taste, and overall likeability for one of the food products. Therefore, replacing soybean oil with hazelnut oil appears to have a limited effect on hedonic characteristics (including overall likeability) of the food products used.