Establishment of a new cell-based assay to quantitatively evaluate the sweetness of sugar and sugar alcohol

Yumei Qin; Yufei Zhou; Xue Yan; Zihan Qin; Yuezhong Mao; Shiyi Tian

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137436

Establishment of a new cell-based assay to quantitatively evaluate the sweetness of sugar and sugar alcohol

Food Chem. 2024 Feb 15:434:137436. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137436. Epub 2023 Sep 17.

Authors

Yumei Qin¹, Yufei Zhou², Xue Yan³, Zihan Qin², Yuezhong Mao¹, Shiyi Tian⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China; Food Safety Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province, School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
² School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
³ Zhejiang Guangsha Vocational and Technical University of Construction, Jinhua 32210, China.
⁴ School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China; Food Safety Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province, School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China. Electronic address: tianshiyi@zjgsu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37742552
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137436

Abstract

Sweetness is a crucial indicator for identifying sweeteners used for flavor regulation and nutritional matching of foods. This study established a new quantitative sweetness evaluation method based on a combination of transiently transfected sweet taste receptor cells (STRs) and human sensory evaluation. Here, nine different sweeteners were evaluated and 10 sensory difference intensities and their corresponding concentrations were obtained through sensory evaluation. Using the same concentration solution as in the sensory evaluation, the dosage-response curve and EC₅₀ of the nine sweeteners were obtained by analyzing the intracellular calcium signal fluctuation of STRs. Data analysis revealed that the calcium signal intensity and sweetness intensity under the same concentration of sweetener presented a strong linear correlation (R² > 0.9). Additionally, we found a favorable correlation (R² = 0.8746) between the relative sweetness and EC₅₀. These findings indicate that the quantitative evaluation of sweetness based on STRs could be a potential alternative to human sensory evaluation.

Keywords: Calcium imaging; Difference intensity; Sweet taste receptor; Sweetener; Sweetness.