Introduction

Ethanol, the pharmaceutically active ingredient in all alcoholic beverages, elicits multiple percepts including sweet, bitter, drying, and burning. However, quality-specific perceptual dose-response functions have not been previously reported. Also, individual differences in ethanol perception may associate with differences in alcoholic beverage use. Here, we describe the chemosensory profile of ethanol across concentrations in a convenience sample of mixed-age adults; secondarily, we explore whether individual differences in various qualities from ethanol associate with alcohol use behaviors.

Methods

Participants (n = 100, 33 men) aged 21 to 55 (mean 33 years) tasted ethanol in water (4, 8, 16, 32, and 48 % v/v) and rated sweetness, bitterness, drying, and burning/tingling on four general Labeled Magnitude Scales. Demographic question and alcohol use measures (years drinking and reported frequency of drinking occasions) were also collected.

Results

Intensity of most qualities increased as a function of ethanol concentration, although the dominant sensation differed with concentration. The dominant sensation for 8 and 16 % ethanol was bitterness (7.4 ± 1.0; 13.5 ± 1.4), whereas for 32 and 48 % ethanol, burning/tingling was the dominant sensation (29.7 ± 2.1; 44.7 ± 2.4). Variation in quality-specific intensities of sampled ethanol explained variability in the reported intake frequency for beer, wine, straight spirits, and number of drinking occasions. The number of years reported drinking (grand mean 10.5 ± 0.8) was not significantly associated with perceptual ratings for sampled ethanol.

Conclusions

In a convenience sample of mixed-aged adults, the sensations from suprathreshold ethanol varied by concentration: bitterness dominated at lower concentrations, while burn dominated at higher concentrations. Exploratory analyses also suggest that differences in chemosensory responses across participants may associate with measures of alcohol use.

中文翻译：

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乙醇的感知质量取决于浓度，并且这些感知的变化与饮用频率有关。

介绍

酒精是所有酒精饮料中的药物活性成分，会引起多种感觉，包括甜，苦，干燥和燃烧。但是，以前尚未报道过特定于质量的感知剂量反应功能。同样，乙醇感知的个体差异可能与酒精饮料使用的差异相关。在这里，我们描述了混合年龄成年人便利样品中乙醇在不同浓度下的化学感应特性；其次，我们探讨了乙醇中各种品质的个体差异是否与饮酒行为有关。

方法

参与者（n  = 100、33名男性）年龄在21至55岁（平均33岁）在水中品尝了乙醇（4％，8％，16％，32％和48％v / v），并获得了甜度，苦味，干燥和燃烧/刺痛的评分在四个通用的标度量表上。还收集了人口统计学问题和饮酒措施（饮酒年限和报告的饮酒次数）。

结果

大多数品质的强度随乙醇浓度的增加而增加，尽管主要感觉随浓度而异。8％和16％的乙醇的主要感觉是苦味（7.4±1.0; 13.5±1.4），而32％和48％的乙醇的主要感觉是燃烧/刺痛（29.7±2.1; 44.7±2.4）。特定质量的乙醇采样强度差异解释了所报告的啤酒，葡萄酒，白酒和饮酒次数的摄入频率的变化。报告的饮酒年限（平均值为10.5±0.8）与所采样的乙醇的感官等级没有显着相关。

结论

在一个方便的混合年龄成年人样本中，阈上乙醇的感觉随浓度而变化：在较低浓度下苦味占主导地位，而在较高浓度下灼伤则占主导地位。探索性分析还表明，参与者之间的化学感应反应差异可能与饮酒量度有关。