Overconsumption of NaCl has been linked to increased morbidity from hypertension related diseases. Both governmental (e.g., the US Food and Drug Administration) and private (e.g., the American Heart Association) organizations have recommended reductions in dietary NaCl consumption. Despite this, the highly appetitive quality of salty taste has caused efforts to promote voluntary reductions in NaCl consumption to be met with limited success. Alternative strategies to reduce NaCl consumption, such as developing salt taste substitutes/enhancers that would enable a reduction in the NaCl content of foods without significantly impacting perceived saltiness, have been hampered the complicated nature of salty taste at both the cellular and neural level. Unlike the other basic tastes, salty taste is mediated by two separate pathways each of which has its own mechanism for detecting salts. These two salt taste pathways also communicate information to the brain through different types of gustatory nerve fibers. Understanding how these two pathways interact to mediate the perception of salty taste is likely to be critical if dietary NaCl reduction is going to be accomplished through the development of a NaCl substitute. This talk will review our current understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of salty taste and discuss the latest research focused on developing compounds that could act as salty taste enhancers.

Unique challenges faced by efforts to reduce NaCl consumption through manipulation of salty taste perception

256th National Meeting (2018)

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