Flavour-enhanced cortisol release during gum chewing

• Hasegawa, Yoko

• Tachibana, Yoshihisa

• Ono, Takahiro

• Kishimoto, Hiromitsu

• Melvin G McInnis

  editor

Abstract

There is some evidence to suggest that chewing gum reduces chronic stress. However, it remains controversial how the taste and odour properties of chewing gum influence stress. The present study was designed to investigate this issue in human subjects. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we tested salivary cortisol concentration, which is thought to be a stress marker, in 96 adults who chewed gum with different combinations of taste and odour. Subjects could discriminate between the types of gum without prior information. Salivary cortisol concentrations were highest and lowest for the subjects who chewed the most flavourful gum and the least flavourful gum, respectively. These findings suggest that the salivary cortisol level during gum chewing is not a marker of negative emotions (i.e., stressful conditions) as traditionally considered but, rather, an index of positive emotions that can facilitate biological responses to overcome stressful conditions.

Journal

• PLoS ONE

  PLoS ONE 12 (4), e0173475-e0173475, 2017-04-05

  Public Library of Science

Keywords

• Multidisciplinary

Details

• CRID: 1050012570393671296
• NII Article ID: 120006373760
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173475
• ISSN: 19326203
• HANDLE: 20.500.14094/90004376
• Web Site: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173475
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: journal article
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN