Effect of Piperine on Saltiness Perception

Abstract

Chemical irritants, like piperine, have the potential to increase human perception of tastes and odours, including saltiness. This cross-modal interaction could help the food industry develop new salt-reduced food products that maintain their salty taste. The objective of this study was: firstly, to determine the detection threshold of piperine (n = 72), secondly to evaluate piperine’s influence on saltiness perception in model solutions (n = 78), and lastly to identify piperine’s effect on sensory perception of low sodium soup using temporal check-all-that-apply (TCATA; n = 75). The group mean of the individual threshold was 0.55 ± 0.15 ppm. Piperine increased the saltiness perception of the model solutions, but it also increased the bitterness and decreased the sweetness of the solutions. The piperine significantly increased the saltiness intensity of the soups (evaluated using a generalized labelled magnitude), but during the TCATA task, the salty attribute was selected less for the soup with piperine than the control (based on the average proportion of selection). The TCATA indicated that the peppery attribute dominated the participants’ perception of the soup with piperine. More studies are needed to assess piperine’s cross-modal interactions.

The effect of allyl isothiocyanate addition on consumers' saltiness perception

“…A study by Nasrawi & Pangborn (1989) found that the burning effect of capsaicin was delayed by the addition of 0.2% xanthan gum due to the viscosity it imparts. This result was also found in a past study investigating the burning intensity of piperine and xanthan gum solutions (Moss et al ., 2023). Results clearly showed that all solutions containing AITC (with and without NaCl and/or xanthan gum) scored significantly higher ( P < 0.05) for bitterness than solutions without AITC, which is an established descriptor for AITC (Sindhu et al ., 2012).…”

“…The pungency of AITC may enhance the perception of salt flavour, as was found for capsaicin (Gilmore & Green, 1993; Narukawa et al ., 2011; Li et al ., 2017) by increasing consumers' sensitivity to other tastants and could modify the neural processing of the salty taste (Li et al ., 2017). This result was also found with piperine (Moss et al ., 2023). Furthermore, trigeminal sensations could induce new sensations which help improve the overall taste and flavour perception of the food time (Cayeux et al ., 2023).…”

“…A sample of soup (100 mL) was presented to the participants at 60 °C in clear cups with lids and a spoon (~10 mL). The procedure to evaluate the soup was adapted from Moss et al (2023). Briefly, the soups were first evaluated for overall liking and liking of appearance, flavour and texture on nine-point hedonic scale (1 = Dislike Extremely and 9 = Like Extremely).…”

“…This method has been found to provide a detailed description of food items and relates to the temporal experience of consuming food (Ares et al, 2015). TCATA has been used to evaluate other food items containing chemical irritants (Moss et al, 2023;Pramudya & Seo, 2023) and salt-reduced foods (Paglarini et al, 2020;Nguyen & Wismer, 2022). This research aimed to determine the effect of AITC on consumers' perception of saltiness.…”

Effect of white pepper addition on the sensory perception of sodium‐reduced soup with an emphasis on saltiness perception

“…While some chemical compounds in foods have been researched and exhibit sensory transference properties, such as capsaicin in chili peppers, other compounds such as piperine in pepper have not been studied as thoroughly (Eib et al, 2021; Haq et al, 2021; Srinivasan, 2007; Utama‐ang et al, 2020). Only a few studies have looked at saltiness perception associated with piperine (Montero & Ross, 2022; Moss et al, 2023). Furthermore, of the few studies conducted on black pepper, there are no studies assessing the perception of white pepper.…”