title: Relationships between ingestion and gustatory perception of caffeine.
abstract: We observed that taste detection thresholds for caffeine (CAF) are elevated in habitual CAF users relative to nonusers. A series of experiments were carried out to explore that relationship and assess the influences of salivary CAF and acute vs. chronic CAF ingestion. A significant correlation between CAF ingestion and taste threshold was noted in two studies of U.S. adults, although this was not observed in a parallel study involving an Argentinean population. Acute CAF ingestion (5.5 mg/kg) had no appreciable effect on taste thresholds. Threshold values greatly exceeded even peak salivary CAF levels, indicating that classical taste adaptation was an unlikely influence. Chronic CAF ingestion (450 mg/day for 3 weeks) also had no consistent effect on taste thresholds for CAF or other taste stimuli. Although a number of explanations are considered, we suggest that the sensory phenomenon may reflect preexisting differences between CAF users and nonusers or perhaps an effect of exposure to other bitter and/or CAF-containing foods and beverages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Consumer Sciences, AFRC Institute of Food Research, Reading, UK.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Mela
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Mattes
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanimura
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: García-Medina
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004032:Diet; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D012472:Salivation / Q000187:drug effects; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects*; D013652:Taste Threshold / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D002110:Caffeine; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; C043414:denatonium