Individual Sweet Taste Perception Influences Salivary Characteristics After Orosensory Stimulation With Sucrose and Noncaloric Sweeteners

Abstract

Emerging evidence points to a major role of salivary flow and viscoelastic properties in taste perception and mouthfeel. It has been proposed that sweet-tasting compounds influence salivary characteristics. However, whether perceived differences in the sensory properties of structurally diverse sweet-tasting compounds contribute to salivary flow and saliva viscoelasticity as part of mouthfeel and overall sweet taste perception remains to be clarified. In this study, we hypothesized that the sensory diversity of sweeteners would differentially change salivary characteristics in response to oral sweet taste stimulation. Therefore, we investigated salivary flow and saliva viscoelasticity from 21 healthy test subjects after orosensory stimulation with sucrose, rebaudioside M (RebM), sucralose, and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDC) in a crossover design and considered the basal level of selected influencing factors, including the basal oral microbiome. All test compounds enhanced the salivary flow rate by up to 1.51 ± 0.12 g/min for RebM compared to 1.10 ± 0.09 g/min for water within the 1st min after stimulation. The increase in flow rate was moderately correlated with the individually perceived sweet taste (r = 0.3, p < 0.01) but did not differ between the test compounds. The complex viscosity of saliva was not affected by the test compounds, but the analysis of covariance showed that it was associated (p < 0.05) with mucin 5B (Muc5B) concentration. The oral microbiome was of typical composition and diversity but was strongly individual-dependent (permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA): R2 = 0.76, p < 0.001) and was not associated with changes in salivary characteristics. In conclusion, this study indicates an impact of individual sweet taste impressions on the flow rate without measurable changes in the complex viscosity of saliva, which may contribute to the overall taste perception and mouthfeel of sweet-tasting compounds.

Replication of the Taste of Sugar by Formulation of Noncaloric Sweeteners with Mineral Salt Taste Modulator Compositions

“…Recently, Karl and co-workers hypothesized that the sensory diversity for the sweeteners sucrose, sucralose, REBM, and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone might differentially change saliva flows and saliva viscoelastic properties following tasting these different sweeteners. 53 Further, they hypothesized that such saliva effects might be the bio-rationale for the perceived mouthfeels of different sweeteners. However, while differences in saliva flow rates between panelists were noted, no significant differences in the viscosities of saliva were observed for any of these sweeteners.…”

Umami Altering Salivary Proteome: A Study across a Sensitivity Spectrum on Subjects

“…The influence of different tastants on the salivary proteome is a fascinating area of research, particularly in terms of how specific stimuli can modulate protein expression related to inflammatory responses. The findings that proteins associated with inflammation are overexpressed following exposure to acid, bitter, and umami stimuli, but not sweet stimuli, suggest a complex interaction between the chemical nature of tastants and the salivary glands’ biological responses. ,, Expanding on these results, it is possible that the salivary glands have receptors sensitive to the molecular structures of acid, bitter, and umami compounds, which might trigger specific signaling pathways leading to the activation of inflammatory-related proteins. These proteins could include cytokines, chemokines, or other acute-phase proteins, which play roles in the body’s immune response and in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis …”