Salty substances

Although some neural fibers respond to sweet-stimulus compounds placed on the tongue, others do not. This pattern of sensitivity is often a very complicated one. The fibers often respond to more than one, sometimes even to all, of the four taste modalities. Very rarely does a fiber respond specifically to only sweet or salty substances. Furthermore, other fibers may have an entirely different spectrum of sensitivities, and may respond strongly to one sweetener and very weakly to another. Pfaffmann reported how two fibers, one having one pattern of sensitivity to taste, and the other, a different pattern, can signal two different taste-qualities, even though... 

First, cold and salty substances that enter the Liver and Heart meridians and can reduce excess heat, extinguish the wind and eliminate phlegm-heat are selected. 

Along with these, it is equally important to select cold and salty substances that enter the Liver meridian, can cool and soften the Liver, descend the Liver-Yang and relax the tendons, thereby extinguishing the wind. 

Effervescent powder contains a mixture of tartaric acid and Bullrich salty substances which, although related, combine under normal conditions only slowly, but if one introduces water into the mix they rush into each others arms with a triumphant effervescence. 

Salty Substances (Sugar, Manna, Honey, Alkalis, Middle Salts. ..) Earth... 

Flavor is a combination of taste, sensation, and odor transmitted by receptors in the mouth (taste buds) and nose (olfactory receptors). The stereochemical theory of odor is discussed in the essay that precedes Experiment 16. The four basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, and bitter) are perceived in specific areas of the tongue. The sides of the tongue perceive sour and salty tastes, the tip is most sensitive to sweet tastes, and the back of the tongue detects bitter tastes. The perception of flavor, however, is not so simple. If it were, it would require only the formulation of various combinations of four basic substances—a bitter substance (a base), a sour substance (an acid), a salty substance (sodium chloride), and a sweet substance (sugar)—to duplicate any flavor In fact, we cannot duplicate flavors in this way. The human possesses 9,000 taste buds. The combined response of these taste buds is what allows perception of a particular flavor. 

These basic taste sensations arise at relatively specialised receptors located in different places of the mouth. Sweet substances are perceived primarily at the tip of the tongue, salty substances in defined areas of the upper surface of the tongue, sour substances to the sides and bitter substances in the root of the tongue and soft palate. Taste receptors also respond to other stimuli (tastes) that are incorporated virtually in the whole oral cavity ... 

The quahty of the salty taste of foods depends on the ratio of sodium cations (Na+) and chloride anions (Cl ). Foods with natural levels of these ions, however, do not always taste salty, because both ions may be not present in the required stoichiometric ratio. The quahty of salty taste of a mixture of salty substances depends on their type and mutual ratio, which is employed to compose the salt substitutes used in various diets. The intensity of the salty taste depends on the concentration of salty substances and the presence of other components in the mixture. The salinity of various salts is an additive property, but some mixtures exhibit synergism, which means that the intensity of a mixture of salty compounds is higher than the sum of salty tastes of its components. The threshold concentrations of the most common salty substances are listed in Table 8.39. 

Salty substances exhibit a variety of pharmacological effects, whose character depends on the type of cation and anion. Some substances are toxic at higher concentrations. The compound consumed in the largest amount is sodium chloride. The daily intake of salt in developed countries is estimated at 8 15g. Sodium chloride supports the perception of taste of foods at the required intensity and fullness, stimulates not only receptors for salty taste, but significantly increases the perception of the sweet taste of sucrose and some other sweet substances, as well as sour taste perception, and suppresses the sensation of metaUic taste and some other... 

Salty Substances. All three domestic species show a preference for at least one hypotonic (<.15 M) concentration of sodium chloride (Table II). Rats preferences cease at concentrations below Isotonla while guinea pigs extended into mild hypertonia on a second series of exposures (34). Wild cavies preferred, 008-.25 M NaCl to water from the first series onward. That cavies were tested for 4-hr. periods on two consecutive days while rats were given 24- or 48-hr. continuous exposures may account for cavies higher acceptance of more concentrated saline solutions. Wild and laboratory rats responses to salt-treated diets were also similar (48). 

Organic aromatic molecules are usually sweet, bitter, a combination of these, or tasteless, probably owing to lack of water solubiUty. Most characteristic taste substances, especially salty and sweet, are nonvolatile compounds. Many different types of molecules produce the bitter taste, eg, divalent cations, alkaloids, some amino acids, and denatoirium (14,15). 

The concealment of the bitter, salty, or offensive taste or odor of a drug substance (such as capsules, coated tablets, flavored syrups)... 

As for Salty I am apt to think that there is one chief, of which all the rest are compounded, and to conceive it to be made of an Acid liquor sliding through the Veins of the Earth, which doth insensibly insinuate and incorporate in the Pores of stones, which it does dilate and attenuate afterwards by a long fermentation and concoction of several years, a salt comes to be formed, that is called fossile and this Opinion is the more likely to be true, because from the mixture of Acids and some Alkali matter, we always draw a substance very like unto Salt. Now stones are an Alkali. I add that the long fermentation, and concoction which is made in the stone, serves to digest, and perfectly to unite the Acid with the stony parts, for the making of Salt. ... 

Flavourings are a major category of ingredients intentionally added to food and feeding stuff. Flavourings are concentrated preparations with the primary purpose to impart flavour except for substances that have an exclusively sweet, sour or salty taste. They are added in small amounts to food or feeding stuff but are not intended to be consumed as such. 

Mang Xiao is another commonly used purgative substance. It is salty and cold, can moisten the intestines, soften the feces and therefore promote bowel movement. It is particularly suitable for constipation when the feces are very dry. 

Ling Yang Jiao is salty and cold, and enters the Liver, Heart and Lung meridians. It can effectively reduce the lire from the Heart and Liver, calm the mind and relax the tendons. It is often used as the chief substance in formulas that reduce the heat from the Heart and Liver when the heat disturbs the mind. 

Bie Jia is salty and cold, and enters the Kidney meridian. It is a strong substance to reduce deficient heat and has the function of tonifying Kidney-Yin. It is particularly suitable for conditions where the warm pathogenic factor has invaded the Lower-Jiao and the Qi and Yin of the body are severely impaired. These features manifest as evening fever, low-grade fever, warm palms and bone steaming. 

Bie Jia is salty and cold. It can nourish the Yin of the Kidney and is effective in reducing deficient heat. As a Yin substance in nature, it is not able to vent the heat to the Yang regions and expel it from the body. Bie Jia enters the Yin level and clears heat there it moves out to the Qi level under the guidance of Qing Hao. 

Da Huang is bitter and cold, and can intensively stimulate the intestines to promote bowel movement. From this purgative effect, it eliminates the heat in the intestines. Mang Xiao is salty and cold, can increase the fluid in the intestines and soften the stool. These two substances can enhance each others effects. They can effectively clear the heat in the intestines and treat constipation. However, as they are both purgatives they may injure the fluid in the intestines and therefore should not be used for a long period of time. 

Bie Jia is salty and cold, and enters the Liver meridians. It is able to nourish the Yin and reduce empty-heat, and is particularly selected in the formula to treat severe warm palms and soles, bone steaming and night sweats due to severe Yin deficiency with ascending of the Yang and heat of the Liver. As use of this substance is now forbidden, a substitute is recommended. 

Moreover, the salty and pungent substances are preferred as they have stronger actions of eliminating phlegm and dispersing the stagnation so as to reduce the masses. 

Xuan Fu Hua is bitter, pungent, salty and slightly warm, and enters the Lung, Stomach and Large Intestine meridians. It can strongly descend the Qi and remove phlegm from the Stomach. Its function is enhanced by Dai Zhe Shi. Dai Zhe Shi is a mineral substance it is bitter and cold, and enters the Liver meridian. As it moves downward rapidly, it can direct the rebellious Stomach-Qi downwards. 

In an acute, severe and excess condition, mineral substances are chosen to directly and quickly sedate the Heart-shen and descend the Liver-Yang. These herbs are salty and cold, and enter the Heart, Liver and Kidney meridians. 

Ji Zi Huang is salty and cold. It is considered a substance to nourish the Yin and moisten dryness, thereby extinguishing internal wind. It is also an animal product and is more effective in tonifying the body than herbs. 

These substances are selected particularly to open up collaterals. Di Long is salty and cold, has drilling... 

Bai Hua She is sweet, salty, warm and poisonous its function of expelling wind is very strong and quick. Wu Shao She is sweet and neutral its function is gentler and slower. They are important substances for treating chronic Bi syndrome due to wind invading the meridians. They are also used to treat dry, thick and itchy skin lesions. 

Development of this sensor was based on a concept very different from that of conventional chemical sensors, which selectively detect specific chemical substances such as glucose or urea. However, taste cannot be measured in those terms even if all the chemical substances contained in foodstuffs are measured. Humans do not distinguish each chemical substance, but express the taste in itself the relationship between chemical substances and taste is not clear. It is also not practical to arrange so many chemical sensors with respect to the number of chemical substances, which amounts to over 1000 in one kind of foodstuff. Moreover, there exist interactions between taste substances, such as the synergistic effect or the suppression effect. A taste sensor should measure these effects the intention is not to measure the amount of each chemical substance but to measure the taste itself, and to express it quantitatively. The recently developed sensor satisfies this request. In fact, this sensor could detect the interactions between saltiness and sourness. 

One method to realize the taste sensor may be the utilization of similar materials to biological systems as the transducer. The biological membrane is composed of proteins and lipids. Proteins are main receptors of taste substances. Especially for sour, salty, or bitter substances, the lipid-membrane part is also suggested to be the receptor site [6]. In biological taste reception, taste stimulus changes the receptor potentials of taste cells, which have various characteristics in reception [7,8]. Then the pattern constructed of receptor potentials is translated into the excitation pattern in taste neurons (across-fiber-pattem theory). 

Typical five primary taste substances, HC1 (sour), NaCl (salty), quinine-HCl (bitter), sucrose (sweet) and MSG (umami) were studied [16]. In general, the response of each lipid membrane was nonspecific to various taste substances. 

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