Scientists have discovered a chemical that distinctively blocks people’s capability to sense the bitter aftertaste that comes with artificial sweeteners such as saccharin. According to a study published online, the key is a molecule that particularly target and inhibits a handful human bitter taste receptors.

The finding of what the researchers say is the first commercially relevant small-molecule bitter taste inhibitor as well opens the door to further finding of compounds for other taste-enhancement motivations, such as hiding the yucky taste of medicines or other frequently encountered bitter flavors.
Controlled human taste tests of artificially sweetened explanations with and without GIV3727 found that the ingredient had the preferred result. Approximately everybody selected the beverages containing GIV3727 as being less bitter. Taste intensity ratings revealed that GIV3727 had an ability to decrease bitter tastes significantly. Promptly, those results came without interfering with study participants’ ability to taste sweetness.

The scientists said that there remain some options that GIV3727 might work for some people a little better than it does for others, noting that even though the chemical wholly abolished bitter taste receptors in the laboratory, some people were actually still able to detect bitterness to some degree. Those differences might be explained by known differences among people in bitter taste receptor genes, the researchers said.