American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 35, 510-520, Copyright © 1982 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Taste perception of sodium chloride in relation to dietary intake of salt

RM Pangborn and SD Pecore

Normotensive young adults, categorized as having high, medium, or low dietary intakes of salt based on a food habits questionnaire, participated in a series of discrimination, perceived intensity, and preference tests of solutions of NaCl and of salted tomato juice. In ad libitum preference tests, subjects with a low salt intake added less NaCl to salt-free tomato juice, and had higher salivary sodium levels. However, large individual variability precluded discernment of a clear- cut relation among these measures. No significant correlations were obtained between salt intake and detection thresholds of 57 subjects for NaCl in water or in juice. In water solutions, salt recognition was greater for the high intake group than for the other groups, with a reverse trend for tomato juice. The experiments demonstrated that 1) discrimination, sensitivity, perceived intensity, preference, and hedonic responses to salt were independent behavioral measures; 2) few sensory measures were related to estimated salt intake; 3) patterns of response to saltiness could not be extrapolated from water solutions to the more complex juice, 4) NaCl elicited a variety of qualitative responses, depending on concentration and medium of dispersion, and 5) a more accurate test instrument is needed for estimating dietary intake of salt.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. D Mattes and B. M Popkin Nonnutritive sweetener consumption in humans: effects on appetite and food intake and their putative mechanisms Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, January 1, 2009; 89(1): 1 - 14. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Keskitalo, A. Knaapila, M. Kallela, A. Palotie, M. Wessman, S. Sammalisto, L. Peltonen, H. Tuorila, and M. Perola Sweet taste preferences are partly genetically determined: identification of a trait locus on chromosome 16 Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, July 1, 2007; 86(1): 55 - 63. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Kochli, Y. Tenenbaum-Rakover, and M. Leshem Increased salt appetite in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia 21-hydroxylase deficiency Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, June 1, 2005; 288(6): R1673 - R1681. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. K. Beauchamp, M. Bertino, and K. Engelman Failure to Compensate Decreased Dietary Sodium With Increased Table Salt Usage JAMA, December 11, 1987; 258(22): 3275 - 3278. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. K. BEAUCHAMP, M. BERTINO, and K. ENGELMAN Modification of Salt Taste Ann Intern Med, May 1, 1983; 98(5_Part_2): 763 - 769. [Abstract] [PDF]