Dept of Food Science and Nutrition, Univ of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Ave. St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
J Food Sci. 2012 Sep;77(9):S302-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2012.02860.x. Epub 2012 Aug 17.
Astringency, a tactile sensation felt in the mouth after exposure to various foods, is poorly understood. Our objective was to investigate the mechanism of astringency by determining if it was related to a loss of saliva's ability to lubricate mouth surfaces. We used 2 complementary approaches: (1) instrumentally determining if astringents decrease salivary lubricity and (2) determining if human subjects could perceive these changes. Instrumentally measured friction of saliva-tannin mixtures was greater than that of saliva-water mixtures, but these differences were not detectable by human subjects. Adding alum or acid to saliva did not increase friction measured either instrumentally or by human subjects rubbing the mixture between their thumb and fingers. Thus a loss of salivary lubricity is likely not a central mechanism of astringency.
If astringency's mechanism can be elucidated, food producers will gain knowledge that will enable them to manufacture, alter, or treat the food in a way to retain its healthful attributes while minimizing the astringency. This knowledge will also benefit sensory scientists interested in the intensity perceptions of the sensations and will allow them to devise improved methods for the assessment of the attribute.
涩味，一种在食用各种食物后口腔中产生的触觉，目前人们对此知之甚少。我们的目标是通过确定涩味是否与唾液润滑口腔表面的能力丧失有关来研究涩味的机制。我们使用了两种互补的方法：（1）仪器测定涩味剂是否降低唾液的润滑性，（2）确定人体是否可以感知这些变化。仪器测量的单宁-唾液混合物的摩擦力大于唾液-水混合物，但人体无法检测到这些差异。向唾液中添加明矾或酸，无论是通过仪器测量还是通过人体摩擦混合物（在拇指和手指之间），都不会增加摩擦力。因此，唾液润滑性的丧失不太可能是涩味的主要机制。
如果能够阐明涩味的机制，食品生产商将获得相关知识，使他们能够在保留食品有益属性的同时，以最小化涩味的方式制造、改变或处理食品。这一知识还将使对感觉强度感知感兴趣的感官科学家受益，并使他们能够设计出改进的方法来评估该属性。
