Abstract
Hydrogen to deuterium isotopic substitution has only a minor effect on physical and chemical properties of water and, as such, is not supposed to influence its neutral taste. Here we conclusively demonstrate that humans are, nevertheless, able to distinguish D2O from H2O by taste. Indeed, highly purified heavy water has a distinctly sweeter taste than same-purity normal water and adds to perceived sweetness of sweeteners. In contrast, mice do not prefer D2O over H2O, indicating that they are not likely to perceive heavy water as sweet. For humans, the sweet taste of D2O is suppressed by lactisole, which is a known sweetness inhibitor acting via the TAS1R3 monomer of the TAS1R2/TAS1R3 sweet taste receptor. HEK 293T cells transfected with the TAS1R2/TAS1R3 heterodimer and the chimeric Gα16gust44 G-protein are activated by D2O but not by H2O. The present study resolves a long-standing controversy about the taste of heavy water, confirms that its sweet taste is mediated by the human TAS1R2/TAS1R3 taste receptor, and opens way to future studies of potential sites and modes of action.
One sentence summary Heavy water elicits sweet taste for humans via the TAS1R2/TAS1R3 taste receptor.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
