The artificial sweetener isomalt is widely used due to its low caloric, non-diabetogenic and non-cariogenic properties. Although the sweetening potency of isomalt has been reported to be lower than that of sucrose, no data on the sensitivity of humans for this polyol are available. Using an up-down, two-alternative forced choice staircase procedure we therefore determined taste detection thresholds for isomalt in human subjects (n = 10; five females and five males) and compared them to taste preference thresholds, determined using a two-bottle preference test of short duration, in a highly frugivorous nonhuman primate, the spider monkey (n = 4; one female, three males). We found that both species detected concentrations of isomalt as low as 20 mM. Both humans and spider monkeys are less sensitive to isomalt than to sucrose, which is consistent with the notion of the former being a low-potency sweetener. The spider monkeys clearly preferred all suprathreshold concentrations tested over water, suggesting that, similar to humans, they perceive isomalt as having a purely sweet taste that is indistinguishable from that of sucrose. As isomalt, like most sweet-tasting polyols, may elicit gastric distress when consumed in large quantities, the present findings may contribute to the choice of appropriate amounts and concentrations of this sweetener when it is employed as a sugar substitute or food additive for human consumption. Similarly, the taste preference threshold values of spider monkeys for isomalt reported here may be useful for determining how much of it should be used when it is employed as a low-caloric sweetener for frugivorous primates kept on a vegetable-based diet, or when medication needs to be administered orally.

中文翻译：

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人类（Homo sapiens）受试者的味觉检测阈值和黑手蜘蛛猴（Ateles geoffroyi）对糖替代品异麦芽酮糖醇的味觉偏好阈值


人工甜味剂异麦芽酮糖醇因其低热量、不致糖尿病和不致龋齿的特性而被广泛使用。尽管据报道异麦芽酮糖醇的甜味效力低于蔗糖，但没有关于人类对这种多元醇的敏感性的数据。因此，我们使用上下两种强制选择阶梯程序确定了人类受试者（n = 10；五名女性和五名男性）中异麦芽酮糖醇的味道检测阈值，并将其与使用两瓶偏好确定的味道偏好阈值进行比较在一种高度果食的非人类灵长类动物蜘蛛猴（n = 4；一只雌性，三只雄性）中进行了短期测试。我们发现这两个物种检测到的异麦芽酮糖醇浓度均低至 20 mM。人类和蜘蛛猴对异麦芽酮糖醇的敏感度低于对蔗糖的敏感度，这与前者是低效甜味剂的概念是一致的。与水相比，蜘蛛猴显然更喜欢测试的所有超阈值浓度，这表明与人类类似，它们认为异麦芽酮糖醇具有纯粹的甜味，与蔗糖的味道没有区别。由于异麦芽酮糖醇与大多数甜味多元醇一样，大量食用时可能会引起胃部不适，因此当前的研究结果可能有助于选择这种甜味剂作为人类消费的糖替代品或食品添加剂时的适当量和浓度。 。类似地，本文报道的蜘蛛猴对异麦芽酮糖醇的味觉偏好阈值可能有助于确定当异麦芽酮糖醇被用作以蔬菜为主的果食灵长类动物的低热量甜味剂时，或当药物治疗时应使用多少异麦芽酮糖醇。需要口服给药。