NaCl has proven to be an effective bitterness inhibitor, but the reason remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a variety of cations and anions on the bitterness of selected oral pharmaceuticals and bitter taste stimuli: pseudoephedrine, ranitidine, acetaminophen, quinine, and urea.
Human psychophysical taste evaluation using a whole mouth exposure procedure was used.
The cations (all associated with the acetate anion) inhibited bitterness when mixed with pharmaceutical solutions to varying degrees. The sodium cation significantly (P < 0.003) inhibited bitterness of the pharmaceuticals more than the other cations. The anions (all associated with the sodium cation) also inhibited bitterness to varying degrees. With the exception of salicylate, the glutamate and adenosine monophosphate anions significantly (P < 0.001) inhibited bitterness of the pharmaceuticals more than the other anions. Also, there were several specific inhibitory interactions between ammonium, sodium and salicylate and certain pharmaceuticals.
We conclude that sodium was the most successful cation and glutamate and AMP were the most successful anions at inhibiting bitterness. Structure forming and breaking properties of ions, as predicted by the Hofmeister series. and other physical-chemical ion properties failed to significantly predict bitterness inhibition.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
2
4%
Other
8
15%
Unknown
21
38%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 November 2025.
All research outputs
#4,524,357
of 31,831,650 outputs
Outputs from Pharmaceutical Research
#536
of 4,924 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#7,792
of 64,726 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Pharmaceutical Research
#4
of 41 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 31,831,650 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 85th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,924 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 64,726 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 41 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
