Salivation Correlates with Masseter Muscle Activity and Partially Depends on the Physical Characteristics and Volume of Food Consumed at One Time

Abstract

Salivation is indispensable for the smooth intake of food and maintenance of oral health. In this study, we investigated how we recognize foods in our mouth, with a focus on the salivary reflex response. Mastication of deacylated gellan gum (DGG) and native gellan gum (NGG) gels induced relatively higher salivation than that induced by the mastication of agar gel, which showed high syneresis. Furthermore, salivation correlated positively with masseter muscle activity for the mastication of agar and DGG gels showing relatively high elasticity and low plasticity. The increase in food volume consumed at one time increased salivation only within a relatively small range; however, the increase in surface area of gels did not affect salivation for the mastication of agar gels. These results enhance our basic understanding of the oral processing of food and provide guidelines for designing a salivation-promoting meal.