Politecnico di Milano, Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering Giulio Natta, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Int J Cosmet Sci. 2013 Aug;35(4):321-8. doi: 10.1111/ics.12028. Epub 2013 Jan 9.
The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of comparing the performance of different absorbent aids in terms of odour control by discussing a suitable methodology for product evaluation. To overcome the problems of low test reproducibility owing to biological urine variability, the first step of the work consisted of the identification and the production of artificial urine having a constant and stable composition over time, moreover preventing sensorial assessors from any risk of biological contamination. Sensorial measurements were performed to optimize the similarity between artificial and biological urine, especially as far as the composition of the volatile component and therefore of the odour properties are concerned. The assessment of absorbent articles performance to control urine malodour includes both the concentration and the hedonic tone of the odour released by the article itself loaded with synthetic urine. Analyses were run on different products, which can be grouped into two different classes: absorbing aids with or without odour control technology (OCT) respectively. Results show that, despite of the presence or absence of OCT on absorbing products, their odour concentrations are almost identical, being comprised between 10 000 and 12 000 ouE m(-3) . For this reason, it is evident that odour concentration is not suitable as the sole parameter for comparison of different absorbing products. Instead, the hedonic odour tone (odour pleasantness/unpleasantness) relevant to the different product typologies (that is products with and without OCT) should be used as an additional discriminating factor for this kind of comparative tests.
本研究旨在探讨通过讨论合适的产品评估方法，比较不同吸收剂在控制气味方面性能的可能性。为了克服由于生物尿液变异性导致测试重现性低的问题，工作的第一步是确定并生产具有稳定组成且随着时间推移不会发生变化的人工尿液，从而避免感官评估人员有任何生物污染的风险。进行了感官测量以优化人工尿液和生物尿液之间的相似性，尤其是在挥发性成分的组成和因此气味特性方面。评估吸收制品控制尿液恶臭的性能包括吸收制品本身负载合成尿液释放的气味的浓度和愉悦度。对不同的产品进行了分析，这些产品可以分为两类：分别具有和不具有气味控制技术（OCT）的吸收辅助剂。结果表明，尽管吸收制品上存在或不存在 OCT，但其气味浓度几乎相同，在 10 000 到 12 000 ouE m(-3) 之间。因此，显然气味浓度不适合作为比较不同吸收产品的唯一参数。相反，对于不同的产品类型（即具有和不具有 OCT 的产品），相关的愉悦度气味音调（气味愉悦/不愉快）应作为此类比较测试的附加区分因素。
