Effect of sweetener on release of flavour compounds from chewing gum Anne-Mette Haahr a,b , Christine F. Pilsgaard a,b , Louise H. Stahnke a , Wender L.P. Bredie c and Hanne H.F. Refsgaard d a BioCentrum-DTU, Technical University of Denmark, DTU build. 221, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. b Danish Institute for Fisheries Research, DTU build. 221,DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. c Department of Dairy and Food Science, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark. d Department of Drug Metabolism, Novo Nordisk A/S, Novo Nordisk Park, DK-2760 Måløv, Denmark Abstract Four mint-flavoured chewing gums differed in type of sweetener (sorbitol and xylitol) and in concentrations of peppermint oil were tested by instumental and sensory time- intensity measurement. The level of menthol and menthone in the breath of five persons chewing the gums were followed over time using an ion-trap mass spectrometer (Agilent 1100 LC/MSD) with a modified atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) source. The flavour release patterns from the APCI measurements for menthone were very similar to the total flavour intensity patterns obtained by the sensory time-intensity. We found that the I max values depended on the type of sweetener in chewing gum, with higher values for chewing gums produced with xylitol. Introduction Release of flavour compounds during mastication is a key quality parameter of food and beverages because the flavour release determine flavour perception. Many food ingredients effect flavour release either due to binding of flavour compounds (Roos 1997) or alteration of the texture of the food system (Druaux and Voilley, 1997; Overbosch et al., 1991). Increase in concentration of sucrose, invert sugar or glucose syrup in a soft drink related model system increased the release of flavour compounds by the ‘salting out’ effect (Hansson et al., 2001) and increasing sucrose concentration in an aqueous system with orange flavour increased the release of the most volatile compounds and decreased the release of less volatile compounds (Nahon et al., 1998). For chewing gum there is provided evidence of perceptual interaction between non- volatile and volatile flavour compounds like sucrose and menthone (Davidson et al., 1999). Long duration of flavour is desirable for chewing gum and it is demonstrated that the rate of release of the sweetener is more important for the duration of the overall flavour than the rate of peppermint flavour (Duizer et al., 1996). We hypothesised that the type of sweetener in chewing gum affects release of volatile flavour compounds, which was studied by sensory and instrumental time-intensity measurements. Experimetal Materials Four chewing gums differed in type of sweetener (sorbitol and xylitol) and in concentrations of peppermint oil (0.5% and 2%) were tested. In the chewing gums with low flavour concentration 1.5% triacetin was added. All chewing gums were without sugar coating. The test chewing gums were obtained from Dandy A/S (Vejle, Denmark).