Sweetness and Other Taste Attributes of the Sugars

Abstract

Sweetness is a pleasant sensation, but the rates with which sweetness and pleasantness increase with increasing sugar concentration are not the same. Working with pure solutions, Moskowitz (1971a) found a linear log-log relation to suggest that pleasantness increases at only about one-quarter to one-third the rate of perceived sweetness. There is also a limit to just how much sweetness intensity is perceived as pleasant. When considering the sweetness attributes of substances alone, distinction needs to be made between perceived (absolute, intrinsic) sweetness, and relative sweetness. These two are not the same, either. The former applies to the intrinsic taste of a substance, as opposed to tastelessness and the salt, sour, and bitter attributes. The latter is a comparison that is made on a concentration basis.