Toward Improving Medication Adherence: The Suppression of Bitter Taste in Edible Taste Films

Table 3

Measures of intensity, persistence, and hedonics of edible film formulations.

	Empty microspheres only, no quinine (control)	Quinine + empty microspheres	Quinine + sucralose microspheres	value
Average intensity (gLMS)	6.5 ± 0.9^a	11.4 ± 2.0^b	10.2 ± 1.4^b	<0.040
Maximum intensity	22.0 ± 3.0	25.9 ± 3.3	25.8 ± 3.1	N.S.
Persistence (s)	78.0 ± 5.9^a	104.7 ± 5.6^b	93.3 ± 5.6^a,b	0.005
Hedonic score (units)	9.8 ± 1.7^a	−1.6 ± 3.9^b	6.3 ± 2.7^a,b	0.022

Data are presented as means ± SE. Across each row, values with different superscripts are significantly different from each other. Average intensity for both the quinine and empty microspheres and the quinine and sucralose microspheres were higher than the control film that contained empty microspheres only, but did not differ from each other. The taste of the quinine and empty microsphere film persisted longer than the control film, with the sucralose microsphere film rated in between and not significantly different from either other treatment. Average hedonic score was higher for the control treatment compared to the quinine and empty microsphere film, while the quinine + sucralose microsphere film did not differ in rating.