Abstract
Exposure to sensory food cues such as smell, vision, taste and/or texture may trigger anticipatory physiological responses such as salivation, participating on adequate metabolism of the signaled food. However, the individual contribution of each sensory modality as well as the impact of particular food products on salivation and salivary composition remains unclear. Therefore, by systematically varying sensory modalities and nutrient content of food stimuli, we investigated their effect on saliva secretion, α-amylase activity and other salivary characteristics (pH level, buffering capacity, MUC5B concentration, and total protein content). Over 3 sessions, 46 normal-weight healthy participants were exposed to 12 conditions, consisting of 4 levels of sensory stimulation (odor, odor + vision, odor + vision + taste, and odor + vision + taste + mastication) and 3 types of stimuli (bread, high-in-starch; cucumber, low-in-starch; and parafilm as non-food control) during which saliva was collected. Linear mixed models showed a significant increase in salivation with increasing levels of sensory stimulation. α-amylase secretion rate increased upon the highest level of stimulation, which involved mastication, compared to odor and odor + visual level of stimulation. Other salivary characteristics varied with the level of sensory stimulation, which might be related to the total volume of salivation. The type of stimuli did not influence the saliva composition (α-amylase concentration nor other salivary components). Our findings indicate that cumulative sensory information, rather than specific (food) product, play a vital role in anticipatory salivary responses.
Highlights
We are continuously exposed to sensory food cues that trigger physiological responses thereby affecting our appetite and, as a con sequence, food intake [1,2]. (Multi)sensory food cues, such as sight, smell or taste of a food, may induce a rapid release of saliva in the oral cavity, this response is known as cephalic-phase salivary response [3,4,5,6]
Levels of sensory stimulation had a significant impact on change in saliva secretion rates (F(3,495)=156.7, p
O and O+V stimulation resulted in the lowest saliva secretion rate and did not differ significantly from each other; while O+V+T and O+V+T+M stimulation produced significantly higher saliva secretion rates
Summary
We are continuously exposed to sensory food cues that trigger physiological responses thereby affecting our appetite and, as a con sequence, food intake [1,2]. (Multi)sensory food cues, such as sight, smell or taste of a food, may induce a rapid release of saliva in the oral cavity, this response is known as cephalic-phase salivary response [3,4,5,6].Salivation depends on a complexity of factor such as food related cues, general health, sex, etc. [7,8]. We are continuously exposed to sensory food cues that trigger physiological responses thereby affecting our appetite and, as a con sequence, food intake [1,2]. (Multi)sensory food cues, such as sight, smell or taste of a food, may induce a rapid release of saliva in the oral cavity, this response is known as cephalic-phase salivary response [3,4,5,6]. Mainly bicarbonate, increase on mastication and stimulation of the parotid glands, provide a buffering action against acidic foods in order to maintain a neutral pH. Mainly MUC5B, impact viscosity of the saliva and are responsible for lubrication of the food bolus during mastication and swallowing, and during speaking. The secretion of mucins and protein is likely constant and its concentration may decrease upon a high saliva secretion [7]
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