THE INFLUENCE OF TASTANTS ON ORAL IRRITATION BY CAPSAICIN

Single-point intensity scaling and time-intensity methods were used to record oral irritation from solutions of 2 ppm capsaicin, capsaicin with added sucrose (0.04M), NaCl (0.3M), citric acid (0.01M) or xanthan gum (0.2%). Only sucrose depressed mouth-burn, both in magnitude and duration. The viscosity imparted by xanthan retarded perception of mouth-burn but did not effect its duration. While single-point scaling averaged perceived intensity across time, time-intensity provided much more information by displaying perception from onset to decay. Eaters and non-eaters of chili peppers did not differ in their perception of mouth-burn.