Differences in Taste Intensity, Chemesthesis, and Swallowing Behavior in Healthy Adult Women (Nagy et al., 2014)

Purpose The authors examined the impact of barium on the perceived taste intensity of 7 different liquid tastant stimuli and the modulatory effect that these differences in perceived taste intensity have on swallowing behaviors.

Method Participants were 80 healthy women, stratified by age group (60) and genetic taste status (supertasters; nontasters). Perceived taste intensity and chemesthetic properties (fizziness; burning–stinging) were rated for 7 tastant solutions (each prepared with and without barium) using the general Labeled Magnitude Scale. Tongue-palate pressures and submental surface electromyography (sEMG) were simultaneously measured during swallowing of these same randomized liquids. Path analysis differentiated the effects of stimulus, genetic taste status, age, barium condition, taste intensity, and an effortful saliva swallow strength covariate on swallowing.

Results Barium stimuli were rated as having reduced taste intensity compared with nonbarium stimuli. Barium also dampened fizziness but did not influence burning–stinging sensation. The amplitudes of tongue-palate pressure or submental sEMG did not differ when swallowing barium versus nonbarium stimuli.

Conclusions Despite impacting taste intensity, the addition of barium to liquid stimuli does not appear to alter behavioral parameters of swallowing. Barium solutions can be considered to elicit behaviors that are similar to those used with nonbarium liquids outside the assessment situation.

目的：本研究作者探讨了钡对7种不同液体味觉刺激感知强度的影响，以及这些感知强度差异对吞咽行为调节作用。方法：研究对象为80名按年龄组（60岁）和遗传味觉状态（味觉超敏者；非味觉者）分层选取的健康女性。使用一般标记量度量表对7种味觉溶液（每种溶液均制备含钡与不含钡两种）的感知味觉强度和化学感觉特性（气泡感；灼烧-刺痛感）进行评分。在吞咽这些随机化液体时，同时测量舌面压力和下颌表面表面肌电图（sEMG）。路径分析区分了刺激、遗传味觉状态、年龄、钡条件、味觉强度以及费力唾液吞咽强度协变量对吞咽的影响。结果：钡刺激与无钡刺激相比，其味觉强度评分降低。钡还降低了气泡感，但对灼烧-刺痛感没有影响。吞咽钡刺激与无钡刺激时，舌面压力或下颌sEMG的振幅没有差异。结论：尽管钡的加入影响了味觉强度，但似乎并未改变吞咽行为的参数。钡溶液可以被认为在评估情境之外能够引起与无钡液体相似的行为。