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Suppression of bitterness using sodium salts
journal contribution
posted on 2001-05-01, 00:00 authored by Russell KeastRussell Keast, P Breslin, G BeauchampBitterness is an ongoing taste problem for both the pharmaceutical and food industries. This paper reports on how salts (NaCI, NaAcetate, NaGluconate, LiCI, KCI) and bitter compounds (urea, quinine-HCI, caffeine, amiloride-HCI, magnesium sulfate, KCI) interact to influence bitter perception. Sodium salts differentially suppress bitterness of these compounds; for example urea bitterness was suppressed by over 70% by sodium salts, while MgSO4 bitterness was not reduced. This study indicated that lithium ions had the same bitter suppressing ability as sodium ions, however the potassium cation had no bitter suppression ability. Changing the anion attached to the sodium did not affect bitter suppression, however, as the anion increased in size, perceived saltiness decreased. This indicates that sodium's mode of action is at the peripheral taste level, rather than a cognitive affect. A second experiment revealed that suppressing bitterness with a sodium salt in a bitter/sweet mixture causes an increase in sweetness. This suggests adding salt to a food matrix will not only increase salt perception, but also potentiate flavor by differential suppression of undesirable tastes such as bitter, while increasing more desirable tastes such as sweet.
History
Journal
Chimia : International journal for chemistryVolume
55Issue
5Pagination
441 - 447Publisher
Swiss Chemical SocietyLocation
Zürich, SwitzerlandISSN
0009-4293Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2001, Swiss Chemical SocietyUsage metrics
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