NaCl and sugar release, salivation and taste during mastication of salted chewing gum

Salt perception impacts on food acceptability and nutrition and depends upon salt release from foods that was determined in situ during mastication of chewing gum with up to 10% (1800 mmol/kg) added NaCl. The mechanical action of chewing increased salivation, which was further increased by the presence of salt, particularly above 180 mmol NaCl/kg gum or above 100 mM NaCl in saliva. The average resting salivary flow rate was 1 ml/min, increasing to 4 and 6 ml/min with gums containing low and high salt, respectively. Thus, stimulation of salivation by salt occurred at a concentration well above the taste threshold of 20 mM NaCl. NaCl concentration in nonstimulated saliva was about 10 mM and increased to 500 mM after 30 s chewing of the 10% NaCl gum and returned to near nonstimulated levels after 4 min chewing. Changes in pH of saliva were more gradual, increasing to a maximum at about 2 min and remaining elevated after 4 min. Salty taste was related to the free chloride ion concentration in saliva irrespective of the initial salt concentration in the gum with an indication of adaptation after 3 min chewing. During chewing, salty taste increased ahead of the increase in salivary conductivity and the salt concentration in the sublingual saliva varied in a cyclic fashion about every 20 s. This is consistent with a cyclic swallowing of saliva and replacement with newly secreted saliva of low salt content and mastication releasing further salt from the gum.