关键词: 五味调, 信号传导, G蛋白偶联受体, 营养, 味觉与嗅觉受体, 传感系统, 代谢综合征

Abstract: The “Five flavor conciliation” is the most important theory and basic principle of Chinese food and cooking. Historically, it is considered that Chinese cooking was strived for satisfactions in look (color), smell (flavor), and taste (delicious), but did not pay much attention to nutrition. More and more studies on the interaction between flavor molecules (ligands) and chemical sensors (receptors) of taste and smell have shown that what our senses of taste and smell implicate is the essential nutrient requirements. So the Five flavor conciliation,, as a sensory system to sense nutrients is the very basis and mechanism of molecular structure recognition, physiological regulation of nutritional homeostasis and metabolisms within the body, and plays an important role in the regulation of nutrient uptake. Most taste and smell receptors are members of the superfamily of G-protein-coupled receptors and serve as the basis for the structure and function recognition, quantification and qualification of nutrients by the sense systems in the body. G-protein-coupled receptors responsive to a range of nutrients and other food components are localized not only to the taste buds of the tongue and nasopharynx, but also to intestinal chemosensory cells, eliciting hormonal and neuronal signaling to the brain and periphery. A large number of studies have demonstrated that a metaphoric tasting,, and smelling,, of the intestinal lumenal contents can be easily achieved through the expression of taste and smell receptors in the gut epithelium. In the olfactory system, the receptors are arranged in a combinatorial receptor coding scheme,,, in which one receptor recognizes multiple odorants and one odorant is recognized by multiple receptors. There is recognition progress and signal cascade from food visual, olfactory, and taste sense to ingurgitation, digestion, and absorption. Strict selection and identification of diets by the human organism are achieved through the taste and smell systems by morphology, texture, molecular structure and function. The sensory systems are arranged in time sequence: from high-speed nervous signal transduction and mixed nervous signal and humor transduction to low-speed humor transduction, just like a symphony. These sequential signal transduction systems constitute bases for nutrient absorption and balance, food safety, and defense, homeostasis, metabolism and health. Based on these data, the conclusion can be drawn that the Five flavor conciliation,, is the basis of health dietary. Studying the interaction between sensory receptors and their food ligands is not only helpful in the development of new methods for smell and taste measurement, but also contributes to developing healthy seasonings, wholesome diet, and new ways to overcome and prevent us from outcome and progress of obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Key words: sensory system, metabolic syndrome