Abstract
Sweetness is classically considered a single perceptual experience. However, diverse compounds can elicit this sensation, suggesting the existence of multiple pathways toward this end. This paper presents an overview of chemical theories of sweetness, reviews the phylogenetic and behavioral evidence for multiple pathways, and presents a summary of recent molecular advances regarding the sweet receptor. Potential sites for signal integration are discussed, and implications for nutritionists and food scientists are presented.
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Notes
Depending on the field, one often finds the phrase “X times sweeter than sucrose.” This phrasing is highly misleading for two reasons. First, “high-intensity” sweeteners are rarely sweeter than concentrated sucrose; rather, this ratio refers to the amount needed to evoke a threshold response. Second, it mistakenly implies that that all sweeteners have similar psychophysical slopes across concentration. In reality, the relative sweetness of a compound to sucrose varies greatly across concentration (eg Cardello HM, Da Silva MA, Damasio MH. 1999. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 54(2):119–30.).
In spite of poor documentation in the open literature, sweetener synergy is presumably an extremely well characterized phenomenon, given the large amount of unpublished research conducted within industry.
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Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Valerie B. Duffy, Linda M. Bartoshuk, Terry E. Acree, and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts, and the Pangborn Sensory Science Scholarship Fund for their generous financial support.
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Hayes, J.E. Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Sweetness. Chem. Percept. 1, 48–57 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-007-9003-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-007-9003-z