Beverly J. Tepper, Ph.D.

Beverly Tepper earned her Ph.D. in Nutrition from Tufts University in 1986. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and joined the Food Science faculty in 1989.

As the director of the Sensory Evaluation Laboratory at Rutgers she conducts sensory perception and consumer testing for both research and industrial clients. Her research program combines Food Sensory Science with Nutritional Science and Psychology to better understand the links between taste, diet and health. Specific research areas include the following:

• The influence of genetic variation in bitter taste perception (6-n-propylthiouracil [PROP] taste sensitivity) on taste perception and food preferences. Current work explores the role of PROP taster status as a marker for dietary fat preference and body weight in both children and adults. Other studies examine the use of PROP taster status as tool in sensory and consumer research.
• The efficacy of bitter blockers in food and beverage products.
• The effects of diabetes on sweet taste, food cravings and dietary compliance. Special interest is on women who become transiently diabetic during pregnancy (gestational diabetes). Gestational diabetes is more common in obese and minority women and places them at greater risk for poor fetal outcome and for developing Type 2 diabetes later in life.
• Food intake regulation and the influence of cognitive factors such as food attitudes, dietary restraint and disinhibition on eating behavior. Current studies have applied multivariate statistical techniques to small-scale surveys to better understand eating patterns among different population subgroups such as women and minorities.

Dr. Tepper receives research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the USDA, and the food industry. She has published more than 40 research papers in such journals as Appetite, Physiology and Behavior, and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. She has lectured frequently in Europe and the U.S. Her work has been featured in an Associate Press report appearing in 139 media outlets worldwide and in other publications including Newsweek Magazine, The New York Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Dr. Tepper currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Sensory Studies and Food Quality and Preference. She also serves on the Food and Nutrition Board’s Committee on Military Nutrition Research of National Academy of Sciences.

She teaches both an undergraduate course in Sensory Evaluation of Food (Lecture/Lab) and a graduate course in Advanced Food Sensory Science (Lecture/Literature Review). She participates in a variety of outreach and continuing professional education programs including a summer workshop on Food Science for high school teachers.

Selected Publications

1. Tepper BJ , Seldner AC. Sweet taste and dietary intake in normal pregnancy and pregnancy complicated by Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999; 70:277-284.
2. Tepper BJ, Christensen CM, Cao J. Development of brief methods to characterize individuals by PROP taster status. Physiology & Behavior, 2002; 73:571-577.
3. Keller KL, Steinmann L, Nurse RJ, Tepper BJ. Genetic taste sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil influences food preference and reported intake in preschool children. Appetite, 2002; 38:3-12.
4. Zhao L, Kirkmeyer SV, Tepper BJ . A paper test for assessing genetic taste sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil. Physiology & Behavior, 2003; 78:625-633.
5. Tepper BJ , Keller KL, Ullrich NV. Genetic taste markers and preferences for bitter and pungent foods. In: Taste research – chemical and physiological aspects. American Chemical Society Symposium Series 867, Hofmann, T, Pickenhagen W, Ho C-T (eds.) 60-74, 2003.
6. Kirkmeyer SV, Tepper BJ. Understanding creaminess perception in dairy products using free-choice profiling and genetic responsivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). Chemical Senses, 2003; 28:527-536.
7. Ullrich NV, Touger-Decker R. O’Sullivan Maillot J, Tepper BJ. PROP taster status and self-perceived food adventurousness influence food preferences. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2004; 104:543-549.
8. Keller KL, Tepper BJ. Inherited taste sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil and diet and body weight in children. Obesity Research, 2004; 12:904-912.
9. Tepper BJ . Genetic sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil as a marker for fat intake, obesity and chronic disease risk: current evidence and future promise. In: Genetic Variation in Taste Sensitivity. Prescott J, Tepper BJ (eds.). New York: Marcel Dekker, 155-178, 2004.
10. Kirkmeyer SV, Tepper BJ. Consumer reactions to creaminess in dairy products and genetic taste sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil: A multidimensional study. Food Quality & Preference, 2005; 16:545-556.
11. Goldstein GL, Daun H, Tepper BJ. Adiposity in middle-aged women associates with genetic taste blindness to 6-n-Propylthiouracil. Obesity Research, 2005, 13; 1017-1023.