PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2016

BEVERAGE INGREDIENTS 14 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 04/16 www.petpla.net Adjusting undesired tastes in beverages with functional benefits Boosting the good, masking the bad BEVERAGE +ingredients Whether they’re functional actives, excipients or sweet- eners, many of the ingredi- ents used in contemporary beverages can cause unde- sired off-notes. With its all- natural Smoothenol 2G line, Sensient Flavors provides a novel approach to address a variety of sensory issues. The trend for beverages with functional benefits has skyrocketed in recent years. From drinks for energy and rejuvenation to weight manage- ment and/or general health and well- ness, better-for-you drinks are an eve- ryday offering on supermarket shelves. Formulating these products, however, is complex: incorporating ingredients such as proteins, herbs, tea extracts, vitamins and amino acids in the reci- pes often impacts the overall taste, which then needs to be adjusted. No less challenging is the task of improving the sensory profile of low- calorie beverages that contain sugar replacers such as stevia or high inten- sity sweeteners. To address these issues, Sensient’s flavouring experts have developed a portfolio of natural masking technology systems called Smoothenol. Tailor-made masks When it comes to taste perception, the tongue is an undisputed master. Fundamentally, taste is the sensation produced when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste bud receptors on the top of the tongue. The tongue is covered with thousands of tiny bumps called papillae and, within each papilla, are hundreds of taste buds. Each taste bud contains 50–100 taste receptor cells. These buds are both the detector and organ of transduction of taste, and are able to differentiate between flavours such as sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Various techniques can be used to improve the mouthfeel of a pro- duct or disguise chalky, sour or bitter off-notes. But, it’s not a simple task, especially when it comes to deal- ing with bitterness. Scientists have discovered that there are roughly 25 bitter receptors (known as hTAS2R receptors) on the tongue. The per- ception of bitterness is particularly acute; for millennia, bitterness has been an indicator of whether or not food is edible, so it’s played a crucial role in evolution and survival. Hence, masking bitterness is particularly chal- lenging. A key aspect of taste mask- ing is designing molecules that bind to a receptor to prevent an agonist from binding. But, again, it’s not that easy. The structural diversity in the chemistry of bitter tasting compounds is huge; each bitter tasting molecule is physically different and requires a mask that’s specifically tailored to block it at the receptor sites. How- ever, masking the undesired taste can