NON-CALORIC SWEETER ENHANCES OXYGENATION OF THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX AFTER GUM CHEWING

Abstract

Sweet tastes enhance cerebral oxygenation during gum chewing. However, it is unknown whether sweet tasting gum (Sweet) (versus tasteless gum (Tasteless)) enhances cerebral oxygenation after chewing. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of chewing a piece of gum sweetened with a non-caloric sweeter on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) circulation. Two trials were conducted in which 11 young volunteers (nine women and two men; mean age, 20.9 years; SD 0.9) chewed tasteless gum and sweet gum for three minutes each at a rate of 70 chew repetitions per minute (rpm). Three-minute breaks were interleaved between the trials. Oxyhemoglobin concentration (OxyHb) in the left PFC was monitored by using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). We found a significant increase in OxyHb with Sweet gum compared with Tasteless gum, both during (p < 0.05) and 1min after gum chewing (p < 0.05). These results suggest that sweet taste with a non-caloric sweeter enhances cerebral circulation during and after gum chewing.