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Taste responses to monosodium glutamate after alcohol exposure.

Wrobel E, Skrok-Wolska D, Ziolkowski M, Korkosz A, Habrat B, Woronowicz B, Kukwa A, Kostowski W, Bienkowski P, Scinska A

Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Sobieskiego 9 St., PL-02957 Warsaw, Poland.

AIMS: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of acute and chronic exposure to alcohol on taste responses to a prototypic umami substance, monosodium glutamate (MSG). METHODS: The rated intensity and pleasantness of MSG taste (0.03-10.0%) was compared in chronic male alcoholics (n = 35) and control subjects (n = 25). In a separate experiment, the effects of acute exposure of the oral mucosa to ethanol rinse (0.5-4.0%) on MSG taste (0.3-3.0%) were studied in 10 social drinkers. RESULTS: The alcoholic and control group did not differ in terms of the rated intensity and pleasantness of MSG taste. Electrogustometric thresholds were significantly (P < 0.01) higher, i.e. worse, in the alcohol-dependent subjects. The difference remained significant after controlling for between-group differences in cigarette smoking and coffee drinking. Rinsing with ethanol did not alter either intensity or pleasantness of MSG taste in social drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that: (i) neither acute nor chronic alcohol exposure modifies taste responses to MSG; (ii) alcohol dependence may be associated with deficit in threshold taste reactivity, as assessed by electrogustometry.

Published 9 February 2005 in Alcohol Alcohol, 40(2): 106-11.
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