Scientists identify new human sensory ability to detect sugars in mouth

Novel sugar detector system in the human mouth has implications for designing tastier, healthier beverages and foods

A study led by the US-based Monell Chemical Senses Center identifies a new human sensory ability to detect sugars in the mouth with a molecular calorie detector, of sorts.

“Our mouth can identify when a sweetener has the potential to deliver calories versus a non-caloric sweetener, which cannot,” said first author Paul Breslin, PhD, a Monell investigator and a professor of Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University.

The study describes the first-in-human demonstration of a pathway that uses the sugar glucose, a component of table sugar and high fructose corn syrup, to signal the presence of calories, in addition to the well-studied sweet-taste receptor in taste buds.

In a series of three elegant human-taste experiments, the team compared oral glucose sensitivity to the ability to sense the artificial sweetener sucralose and to a special form of glucose that cannot be metabolized.

“Overall, there are two sweet-sensing pathways in the mouth: one for sweet taste, and another for detecting potential energy-burning sugars,” said coauthor Linda J. Flammer, PhD, a senior research associate at Monell.

After swallowing, calories in sugars are sensed in the gut and blood, but this study establishes that humans can also register sugars as being different from non-caloric sweeteners in the mouth.