The important role of umami taste in oral and overall health

Flavour

Noriaki Shoji¹  Shizuko Satoh-Kuriwada¹  Takashi Sasano¹ 

[1] Division of Oral Diagnosis, Department of Oral Medicine and Surgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, 4-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan

关键词: Overall health;    Gustatory–salivary reflex;    Dry mouth;    Taste disorder;    Umami;   

Others  :  1120329
DOI  :  10.1186/2044-7248-4-10

 received in 2014-12-02, accepted in 2014-12-02,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

There is a close relationship between an individual’s perception of umami taste and that individual’s physical condition. Our newly developed umami taste sensitivity test revealed the loss of only the umami taste sensation with preservation of the other four basic taste sensations (sweet, salty, sour, and bitter) in some elderly patients. All such patients complained of appetite and weight loss, resulting in poor overall health. We also found that treatment of hyposalivation diminishes hypogeusia, indicating that salivation is essential to the maintenance of normal taste function. Based on these findings, we consider that improvement in salivary flow may serve as a treatment for patients with taste disorders. Umami taste stimulation increases the salivary flow rate because of the gustatory–salivary reflex. We used Japanese Kobucha (kelp tea: tea made of powdered tangle seaweed) to stimulate umami taste and promote reflexive salivation. Improvements were noted in salivation, taste function, appetite, weight, and overall health. Maintenance of umami taste function contributes not only to the preservation of good oral health but also to the general overall health in elderly people.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Sasano et al.; licensee BioMed Central.

【 图 表 】

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