Enhancement of sucrose sweetness with soluble starch in humans

Abstract

The effect of soluble starch (acid-modified starch) on taste intensity was investigated in human subjects. Different concentrations of sucrose (Suc), six sweeteners, NaCl, quinine-HCl (QHCl) and citric acid (Cit) were dissolved in either distilled water (DW; standard) or starch solution (test solution). The solutions were presented to naive subjects and each subject was requested to taste and compare the sweetness intensity between the standard and test solutions based on a scale ranging from +3 (enhanced) to -3 (inhibited). A greater sweetness intensity occurred with Suc at different concentration (0.1-1.0 M) dissolved in soluble starch (0.125% to 4.0%) than with Suc in DW. Similarly, five other different products of soluble starch at 0.25 and 4.0% resulted in enhancement of sweetness for 0.3 and 1.0 M Suc. With the sole exception of the taste of 0.3 M Suc, sweet enhancement did not occur with 0.43 M fructose, 0.82 M glucose, 0.82 M sorbitol, 0.0037 M aspartame, 0.0042 M saccharin-Na or 0.016 M cyclamate. Neither the saltiness of NaCl (0.01-0.3 M), the bitterness of QHCl (0.00003-0.001 M) nor the sourness of Cit (0.0003-0.01 M) were affected by the soluble starch. These results suggest that the taste enhancing effects of soluble starch on Suc sweetness might depend not only on the taste transduction mechanism, but also on the molecular interaction between Suc and soluble starch.