EFFECTIVENESS OF RINSES IN ALLEVIATING BITTERNESS AND ASTRINGENCY RESIDUALS IN MODEL SOLUTIONS1,2

Abstract

ABSTRACTA two‐part study determined the effectiveness of gum‐based rinses with or without oil for alleviating residuals of a bitter (0.8 g/L caffeine solution) and an astringent (1g/L alum solution) stimuli in serial responses using a sip and spit method. In Experiment 1, rinsing with deionized water was compared to rinsing with 0.3% xanthan gum in water alone or with 5% corn oil and 0.55% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in water alone or with 5% or 10% corn oil. The 0.3% xanthan gum and 5% corn oil mixture resulted in the highest stimulus intensity difference before and after rinsing, whereas 0.55% CMC had a value of nearly zero for residual effect. Results of a two‐alternative forced choice test used in Experiment 2 indicated that both were equally effective for reducing bitterness residuals, but 0.55% CMC solution resulted in the lowest (p=0.007) residual effect for astringency. Therefore, the 0.55% CMC rinse was considered an effective interstimulus rinse to use for assessing both bitterness and astringency in model solutions.