The Neural Basis of Salt Perception: A Focus on Potassium Chloride as a Sodium Alternative.

ABSTRACT: Excessive dietary sodium intake is a major risk factor for hypertension, prompting interest in potassium chloride (KCl) as a sodium chloride (NaCl) alternative. While KCl preserves saltiness, its neural processing compared to NaCl remains underexplored. This study investigates the neural correlates of taste perception for NaCl, KCl, and their mixture using gustatory event-related potentials (ERPs) in a sample of 28 healthy young adults. Participants rated the intensity, saltiness, and pleasantness of the stimuli, which were matched for iso-intensity and iso-pleasantness. High-density EEG data revealed distinct microstate patterns associated with each condition, particularly in the later stages of processing, which align with the endogenous phases of taste perception. Source localization id

SUBMITTER: Iannilli E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11856358 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature