Salivary α-Amylase Activity and Starch-Related Sweet Taste Perception in Humans

Starch-related sweet taste perception plays an important role as a part of the dietary nutrient sensing mechanisms in the oral cavity. However, the release of sugars from starchy foods eliciting sweetness has been less studied in humans than in laboratory rodents. Thus, 28 respondents were recruited and evaluated for their starch-related sweet taste perception, salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) activity, oral release of reducing sugars, and salivary leptin. The results demonstrated that a 2-min oral mastication of starchy chewing gum produced an oral concentration of maltose above the sweet taste threshold and revealed that the total amount of maltose equivalent reducing sugars produced was positively correlated with the sAA activity. In addition, respondents who consistently identified the starch-related sweet taste in two sessions (test and retest) generated a higher maltose equivalent reducing sugar concentration compared to respondents who could not detect starch-related sweet taste at all (51.52 +/- 2.85 and 29.96 +/- 15.58 mM, respectively). In our study, salivary leptin levels were not correlated with starch-related sweet taste perception. The data contribute to the overall understanding of oral nutrient sensing and potentially to the control of food intake in humans. The results provide insight on how starchy foods without added glucose can elicit variable sweet taste perception in humans after mastication as a result of the maltose generated. The data contribute to the overall understanding of oral sensing of simple and complex carbohydrates in humans.