sodium chloride
compound / compound-sodium-chloride
塩化ナトリウム
Sodium chloride. Bitter suppression effect depends on the target compound and concentration.
On this page (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Sodium salts such as sodium chloride have been reported to suppress bitterness in sensory tests when applied alone and in binary mixtures of multiple bitter compounds. However, suppression was not uniform; in tetralone alone and in mixtures containing tetralone, this suppression effect was not observed (within the scope of the abstract).
In a test where a trained panel of twenty members evaluated bitter perception intensity (average rank score, with 1 = strongest bitterness and 5 = weakest) using the R-Index method with six replicates on a mixed salt solution containing KCl, NaCl, and L-arginine, the results were: 2.02 at a blending ratio of 70:20:10, 2.22 at 65:25:10, 2.86 at 60:30:10, 3.19 at 55:35:10, and 4.72 for the NaCl solution alone as control (p < 0.05 between different groups). Bitter perception intensity decreased significantly as the NaCl blending ratio increased. However, L-arginine was fixed at 10% across all conditions, so only the effect accompanying changes in the KCl ratio could be isolated.
In an experiment using cells engineered to express human bitter taste receptors, the response of cells expressing TAS2R16 to salicin decreased in a concentration-dependent manner in the presence of NaCl in the range of 0–43 mM. In contrast, responses of TAS2R14, TAS2R43, and TAS2R46, which were tested simultaneously, showed no change with NaCl concentration. This is a change in receptor response at the cell level and does not directly measure human sensory bitter perception.
Sources for this overview
The influence of sodium salts on binary mixtures of bitter-tasting compounds
Checked for this overview: Used the compound dependence of the suppression effect, shown by the absence of suppression for tetralone alone.
Checked for this overview: Used the dose-response relationship of R-Index bitter score to NaCl ratio.
Influence of Sodium Chloride on Human Bitter Taste Receptor Responses
Checked for this overview: Used the NaCl concentration-dependent suppression of TAS2R16 cell response.
Follow the connections
miso →— perceived bitterness is s…→ sodium chloride
Hypotheses and recipe candidates for this entry are on the Japanese page.
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Sensory (3)
Scope: A human sensory test in aqueous solution, with intensities matched to a weak bitterness level
Note: This claim itself retains a counterexample to any rule that sodium salt uniformly erases bitterness.
Show data
compound-sodium-chloride —can_reduce_perceived_bitterness_of→ "Several bitter substances alone and in binary mixtures. Tetralone and mixtures containing it, however, were not suppressed"Scope: Layer: solution. Aqueous solutions of KCl:NaCl:L-Arg mixing ratios 70:20:10/65:25:10/60:30:10/55:35:10 and a control (100% NaCl), at concentrations of 0.5/1.0/1.5% w/v, R-Index method (6 replicates) with a trained panel of 20.
Note: L-arginine (10%) is fixed across all conditions, so what can be isolated is the effect that accompanies changes in the KCl proportion. This does not show the effect of NaCl alone on bitter substances other than KCl.
Show data
compound-sodium-chloride —can_reduce_perceived_bitterness_of→ "In a KCl:NaCl:L-arginine mixed-salt solution, raising the NaCl proportion from the 70:20:10 and 65:25:10 groups to the 60:30:10 and 55:35:10 groups significantly lowered perceived bitterness intensity (mean rank score) by the R-Index method (the significant difference was shown between the two groups)."Scope: Water-soluble fractions (W-S, extracted with water) and butanol-soluble fractions (Bu-S) of salt-free soybean miso, soybean miso and Hatcho miso, and aqueous solutions of bitter amino acids. The panel ranged from 3 to 32 people depending on the test (8 for paired comparison, 30 for ranking, 32 for pairwise comparison, and 3 for comparison with a bitterness reference substance)
Note: These are tests on an extract of the water-soluble components of miso and on solutions of bitter amino acids, not on miso soup itself. Numerical values for the strength of bitterness are in Tables 1 to 5, but some tables can be read only as images, so the judgments in the text were used. Some tests had small panels (3 and 8 people). The text states that in an earlier report from the same research group, a sensory test of miso soup with salt and nitrogen concentrations adjusted found no difference in bitterness between salt-free soybean miso and ordinary soybean miso, so differences may not appear at the concentration of miso soup. Glutamic acid (100 mg/100 mL) also weakened the bitterness of the bitter amino acids, and worked better than aspartic acid.
Show data
ingredient-miso —has_perceived_bitterness_suppressed_by→ compound-sodium-chlorideMechanism and receptors (1)
Scope: Layer: cells. TAS2R14, TAS2R16, TAS2R43, and TAS2R46 expressed in HEK293T-Gα16gust44 cells, combinations of each receptor's principal agonist with NaCl concentrations (0/22/43/65/87/108/130 mM), calcium imaging.
Note: Shows at the cellular level that NaCl suppresses receptor response specifically for the target compound (the TAS2R16-salicin pair only), supporting the existing item description 「苦味抑制効果は対象化合物と濃度に依存する」 (in translation: "the bitterness-suppressing effect depends on the target compound and concentration"). A sodium gluconate control confirms this is an effect of the sodium ion rather than the chloride ion.
Show data
compound-sodium-chloride —can_decrease→ "In cells expressing the human bitter receptor TAS2R16, the response to the bitter glycoside salicin was significantly reduced in the presence of NaCl, showing concentration-dependent suppression over the 0-43 mM range. By contrast, the responses of TAS2R14, TAS2R43, and TAS2R46, tested at the same time, showed no change with NaCl concentration."