Wine pH Prevails over Buffering Capacity of Human Saliva
Author
dc.contributor.author
Obreque Slier, Elías
Author
dc.contributor.author
Espínola Espínola, Valeria
Author
dc.contributor.author
López Solís, Remigio
Admission date
dc.date.accessioned
2017-11-03T18:45:42Z
Available date
dc.date.available
2017-11-03T18:45:42Z
Publication date
dc.date.issued
2016
Cita de ítem
dc.identifier.citation
J. Agric. Food Chem. 2016, 64, 8154−8159
es_ES
Identifier
dc.identifier.other
10.1021/acs.jafc.6b03013
Identifier
dc.identifier.uri
https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/145464
Abstract
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Wine is an acidic beverage; its pH (2.9-3.8) is critically important to its organoleptic properties. During degustation, wine interacts with <1 mL of mouth saliva, the pH of which is near 7.0. This is buffered predominantly by the carbonate/bicarbonate pair (pK(a) = 6.1). Few data are available on whether the buffering capacity of saliva may alter the pH of wine and thus its sensorial properties. In this study both in vitro and in vivo approaches were conducted to measure pH in mixtures of representative red and white wines with human saliva. Continuous additions of microvolumes of either wine to a definite volume (3 mL) of saliva in vitro resulted in a progressive and steep decline in the pH of the wine/saliva mixture. Thus, a few microliters of either wine (<0.27 mL) was sufficient to reduce the pH of saliva by 1 pH unit. Further additions of wine to saliva lowered the pH to that of the corresponding wine. In the in vivo assay, definite volumes (1.5-18 mL) of either wine were mixed for 15 s with the mouth saliva of individual healthy subjects before pH determination in the expectorated wine/saliva mixtures. Compared to saliva, pronounced decreases in pH were observed, thus approaching the pH of wine even with the smallest volume of wine in the assay. Altogether, these results demonstrate that the buffering capacity of wine prevails over that of saliva and that during degustation the pH of the wine/saliva mixture in the mouth is, at least temporarily, that of the corresponding wine.