Kui Zhong

Excessive salt intake has emerged as a significant public health concern. Early-phase research suggests that pungent substances have the potential to reduce salt consumption, although the precise mechanism remains incompletely elucidated. This study systematically investigated the molecular basis of saltiness enhancement by má là compounds—hydroxy-α-sanshool (3 μmol/L) and capsaicin (1 μmol/L). We employed calcium imaging to monitor ionic flux in murine bud cells, Western blot and qPCR to quantify protein and gene expression in HEK293T cell models, and integrated molecular docking with dynamics simulations to characterize receptor-ligand interactions. Our findings demonstrate that both compounds significantly potentiated Ca²⁺ influx through TRPV1 and SCNN1A channels. Notably, the hydroxy-α-sanshool/capsaicin combination reverses the suppressive effect of capsaicin alone on SCNN1A expression and coordinately upregulates TRPV1 and SCNN1A expression, accompanied by enhanced PKCα phosphorylation. Structural simulations reveal that hydroxy-α-sanshool stabilizes TRPV1 conformational states that facilitate capsaicin binding. Collectively, these results establish a mechanistic foundation for má là–mediated saltiness enhancement and support their potential application in taste modulation strategies.

Szechuan pepper pungency is traditionally assessed by subjective sensory panels or laboratory instruments, hindering on-site detection. Perceived numbing sensation does not always correspond directly to alkylamide content because multiple electroactive constituents, including polyphenols and sanshools, may contribute to the overall sensory response. Chromatographic methods quantify individual compounds but may not fully reflect integrated human pungency perception. Electrochemical detection bypasses separation, as the voltammetric response integrates oxidative signals from multiple electroactive species. We developed a portable electrochemical system with a custom programmable-gain potentiostat, three-electrode detector, and STM32-controlled software for differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurement. Coupled with machine learning, it assessed Zanthoxylum bungeanum (red peppers) and Zanthoxylum schinifolium (green peppers). Fifteen replicate scans from each of 22 origins yielded 330 DPV curves calibrated against general Labeled Magnitude Scale (gLMS) scores from a trained panel. An artificial neural network (ANN) achieved R² = 0.937 for red peppers, while principal component analysis–support vector regression (PCA–SVR) achieved R² = 0.860 for green peppers. Competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) identified three characteristic potential intervals for each type: 0.17–0.21, 0.57–0.62, and 0.69–0.80 V for red peppers, and 0.24–0.27, 0.56–0.68, and 0.69–0.77 V for green peppers. These intervals indicate that pungency-related electrochemical information is distributed across multiple potential regions. The system shows potential for rapid and objective quality assessment of Szechuan pepper.

Mastication and swallowing are complex physiological processes involving the coordinated activity of multiple tissues in the oral cavity, facial region, and laryngeal system. Some detection methods suffer from limitations such as insufficient information acquisition and inadequate temporal feature analysis. To address these issues, this study proposes a conceptual method for analyzing the state of masticatory and swallowing movements. It integrates maxillofacial electromyographic (EMG) signals with laryngeal movement signals. The goal is to preliminarily explore state analysis of masticatory and swallowing movements over time. A designed gain-adjustable conditioning circuit processes and acquires these signals: maxillofacial EMG signals from EMG electrodes and laryngeal movement signals from flexible PVDF piezoelectric sensors. These two signal streams complement each other’s missing information, enabling comprehensive detection of the state of masticatory and swallowing movements. To address time-point labeling in mastication and swallowing, a sliding-window-based dispersion calculation method was employed to extract characteristic signal nodes, which were then accurately associated with their corresponding physiological motion states. We combined temporal features such as the zero point, onset of fluctuations, characteristic peaks, and baseline recovery from electromyographic (EMG) signals and laryngeal movement signals. This allowed us to establish a correspondence between key time points in the mastication and swallowing processes. The coefficient of determination (R²) for the pressure–voltage linear fit of the PVDF flexible piezoelectric sensor was 0.99446. The pressure resolution was approximately 0.08 kPa. Response times were no more than 15 ms for the EMG channel and no more than 10 ms for the PVDF pressure channel. These results indicate that this method is feasible for extracting oral movement time parameters in healthy subjects.

Consumer preferences for food products serve as a fundamental factor that influences purchasing and utilization decisions. Consumer preferences for infant formula (IF) are predominantly determined by its aroma characteristics. This study examined the volatile flavor compounds (VOC), aroma characteristics of IF detected via GC-ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), quantitative descriptive analysis, and consumer testing, respectively, hoping to provide a novel perspective for enterprise quality control. The results indicate that GC-IMS can be used for the rapid analysis of VOC in IF. Correlation analyses between consumer preferences and sensory profiles revealed that overall liking (OL) displayed a significant positive association with milky and creamy flavors, and a highly negative correlation with fishy and oxidation aromas. Of the 4 key sensory profiles, fishy and creamy flavors had a notably stronger effect on OL than oxidation and milky aromas. The results of the 2-way orthogonal partial least squares analyses indicated that acetoin (B6), (Z)-4-heptenal (A12), β-pinene (G1), o-xylene (G6), 3-octanone (B9), 1-hexanal (A7), 2-methylpropanol (C6), nonanal (A2), and 2-methyl butanal (A4) could be used to predict the sensory intensity associated with IF, and consequently consumer preference. This study aimed to provide a foundational data source for IF quality control and consumer preference maintenance, as well as a stable, rapid aroma analysis process for IF-related products.

Emotions evoked by food are an important factor that strongly influences the predictive power of consumer acceptance and consumption behavior when choosing food. The emotion questionnaire is an efficient measurement tool that describes the emotions evoked by different foods on the market. However, there is rarely a list of emotion terms for specific foods, such as the pure dairy products on the market. The aim of this study was to develop an emotion scale to measure emotion responses for pure dairy products and to investigate its application in consumer testing. A total of 1340 Chinese subjects (67% female, 18~45 years old, consumers of pure milk) participated in the study. The study began with the screening and identifying of emotion terms for pure dairy products and developed a proposed pure dairy product Emotion Scale (P-PDPES) with 50 emotion terms. Subsequently, the structure and emotion terms of the P-PDPES were determined using EFA and a final pure dairy product Emotion Scale (PDPES) with 33 emotion terms was obtained. The results showed that the PDPES has good validity and reliability. Moreover, the PDPES was used in a consumer test to describe the emotions towards the commercial pure dairy products. This PDPES discriminated well the emotions evoked by different pure dairy products and also indicated a good relationship between the model factors and the liking scores of milk products. To summarize, PDPES is a suitable measurement tool for assessing the emotions to pure dairy products.

Jiang‐flavor Baijiu (JFB) is one of the most complex and representative types of traditional Chinese liquor, known for its unique flavor, which is popular among Chinese consumers. Previous studies primarily focused on detecting and identifying volatile compounds but lacked comprehensive descriptions and precise differentiation of their sensory qualities. To explore the sensory characteristics of JFB, this study collected widely recognized sensory descriptors from literature, standards, free descriptive questionnaires, and Pivot Profile experiments, which were then textually analyzed and merged to yield 88 sensory descriptors. M‐value and multivariate statistical methods were then used to narrow these down to 35 sensory descriptors, for which corresponding definitions and physical references were established, forming a sensory lexicon for JFB. A quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) was performed on JFB samples using the sensory lexicon. To ensure the reliability of the analysis, the panel's performance was also evaluated. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), radar plots, and one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated that the established sensory lexicon accurately reflects the sensory profile of JFB and can be used to differentiate the sensory characteristics of samples from different price ranges or regions. This study opens new avenues for the standardization of quantitative descriptive analysis for JFB and provides a case study for constructing sensory lexicons for other types of Baijiu in China.

Jiang‐flavor baijiu (JFB) is a prominent type of Chinese baijiu, known for its unique flavor attributes, sensory experience, and high tasting value. Previous research has mainly focused on the detection and identification of its flavor substances, but in‐depth studies on the precise sensory description and differentiation of its flavor qualities are still lacking. In this study, a rapid sensory analysis method, Pivot Profile (PP), was applied to 30 mainstream JFBs in the Chinese market, generating 91 sensory attributes with independent definitions, from which 29 main sensory attributes were established that were easy to perceive and descriptive, as well as convenient for transmitting their sensory qualities and distinguishing differences in price and production region, including color (one descriptor), aroma (21 descriptors), taste, and mouthfeel (seven descriptors). The nine key sensory attributes that distinguish JFB quality are as follows: Jiang, Grain, Chen, Qu, Rancid, Acid, Sweet, Fullness, and Harmony. It was found that price was positively correlated with sensory quality, with greater variation in the quality of samples within the medium price range (RMB 500–1000). All samples from MTCQ1 (the core production area of Maotai Town) performed better in sensory quality. In addition, salted vegetable showed a high degree of regional characteristics, concentrated in most of the production regions of Guizhou Province. Aroma attributes were more suitable than taste and mouthfeel as sensory indicators for distinguishing production regions. This study has opened the direction of systematic construction of sensory description of JFB and provided a successful case for the evaluation of Chinese baijiu using novel sensory analysis techniques.

Green huajiao has a unique flavor and is widely used in cooking as an edible spice. In this study, the intensity of overall aroma and aroma attributes of seven green huajiao samples from the Sichuan and Chongqing regions were evaluated using a dynamic dilution olfactometer and ranking descriptive analysis (RDA) technology. The volatile compounds and major aroma components were determined by GC-MS in combination with odor activity value (OAV) analysis. The partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was further used to identify the key aromas contributing to the aroma sensory attributes. Seven green huajiao samples were categorized into three groups: (1) huajiao samples from Liangshan have a strong intensity of pungent, floral and herbal aromas and a medium-high intensity of sweet aroma, and the key contributing aroma compounds were α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, myrcene, ocimene and linalool; (2) huajiao samples from Panzhihua and Hongya have a strong intensity of citrusy, lemony and minty aromas, and the key contributing aroma compound was linalool; and (3) the huajiao sample from the Chongqing region was categorized into a separate group and was characterized by a medium-high intensity of green, minty and sweet aromas, and the main aroma compounds are ocimene, citronellal and α-terpineol. These results provide useful basic data for evaluating the aroma quality and analyzing the key aroma characteristics of green huajiao in the Sichuan and Chongqing regions.

The postharvest shelf life of fresh corn largely depends on the packaging method and storage temperature. This study investigated the effect of vacuum packaging (VP) with high-barrier (HB) or ordinary (OR) nylon/nylon/polypropylene (PP) composite films and the impact of storage temperature (4, 25, and 38 °C) on the shelf life of fresh corn. The sensory quality and color changes of the corn were evaluated, indicating a significant improvement in the glossiness (GL), sourness (SO), and color changes compared to corn packaged using OR films. The results showed that the HB films preserved corn freshness under refrigerated and normal temperature storage conditions, delaying color changes and SO development. A shelf-life model was established based on the Arrhenius equation. The predicted values of the corn at different temperatures were compared with the experimental data, indicating that the model could accurately predict the shelf life. The shelf life observed via sensory evaluation was more than 50% shorter than the results obtained by instrumental measurements. Therefore, sensory evaluation could be applied to determine shelf life and avoid food waste.