Consequences of excessive use of Amlarasa (sour taste): A case-control study

BACKGROUND: Palatability is an important factor for choice of food by an individual. Amlarasa (sour taste) is one of the main organoleptic entities in foods of present day, which always tempts the consumer to take it now and then. According to classical Ayurvedic texts, balanced intake of Amlarasa in diet helps to maintain physiological health, but its excessive intake produces some signs and symptoms such as dentine hypersensitivity, stomatitis, halitosis, heartburn, urticaria, papule and joint inflammation. AIM: To establish the relationship between excessive use of sour predominant diets and signs/symptoms produced by it. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A case-control survey study was designed wherein total of 178 volunteers were interviewed personally. Subjects with particular symptoms consider as a cases while healthy volunteers as controls. To measure the excessive intake of Amlarasa, quantity and frequency of common food articles such as mango, tomato, lime, butter milk, tamarind, curd, fermented items etc., are taken into consideration. Data was arranged in to 2 × 2 table and odd ratio was calculated for each symptom. RESULTS: Odds ratio for dentine hypersensitivity, stomatitis, halitosis, heartburn, urticaria, papule and joint inflammation with 95% confidence interval were found 1.95 (0.97-3.93), 2.45 (1.12-5.40), 2.76 (0.96-7.98), 2.21 (1.09-4.53), 0.86 (0.32-2.32), 2.28 (1.02-5.05) and 4.85 (1.09-10.24) respectively. CONCLUSION: Study reveals that Amlarasa is a risk factor for joint inflammation, dentine hypersensitivity, stomatitis, halitosis, heartburn and papules. Study supports the Ayurvedic classical claim regarding Atiyoga of Amlarasa.