Oral care flavour for improving relaxation state and method of assessing

A method of creating an oral care flavour composition having effect of improving the relaxation of a human subject, comprising the steps of:

• (i) creating a test oral care flavour composition;
• (ii) assessing the ability of the test oral care flavour composition to improve the relaxation state of a human subject according to the method of claim;
• and
• (iii) adjusting, if necessary, the test oral care flavour composition by adding and/or removing at least one oral care flavour ingredient and/or increasing and/or reducing the concentration of at least one oral care flavour ingredient until the oral care flavour composition is found to improve the relaxation state of the human subject.

An oral care flavour composition for improving the relaxation state of a human subject, the oral care flavour composition comprising:

• a) at least one REL oral care flavour ingredient;
• b) at least about 10% by weight in total of REL and/or HMR oral care flavour ingredients;
• c) optionally up to about 90% by weight in total of other oral care flavour ingredients, provided the following conditions are met:
• (c1) PEPPERMINTs+INVs+HMIs+HMPs<75%
• (c2) RELs+HMRs>INVs+HMIs
• (c3) RELs/(HMPs+RELs+INVs)≥0.35
• wherein
• (i) all percentages are based on total weight of the oral care flavour ingredients constituting the oral care flavour composition;
• (ii) PEPPERMINTs indicates the sum of percentages of PEPPERMINT oral care flavour ingredients;
• INVs indicates the sum of percentages of INV oral care flavour ingredients;
• HMIs indicates the sum of percentages of HMI oral care flavour ingredients;
• HMPs indicates the sum of percentages of HMP oral care flavour ingredients;
• RELs indicates the sum of percentages of REL oral care flavour ingredients;
• and HMRs indicates the sum of percentages of HMR oral care flavour ingredients;
• (iii) the symbol ≥ indicates at least equal to;
• (iv) the REL oral care flavour ingredients are selected from the group consisting of sweet-vanilla ingredients, sweet-coconut ingredients, sweet-cooked sugar ingredients, fruity-passionfruit ingredients, herbal-thyme ingredients, sage oils and reconstitutions, clary sage oils and reconstitutions, camomile oils and reconstitutions, lavender oils and reconstitutions, and mixtures thereof;
• (v) the HMR oral care flavour ingredients are selected from the group consisting of fruity-pineapple ingredients, fruity-peach ingredients, herbal-spearmint ingredients, lemon oil, lemon oil reconstitutions, and mixtures thereof;
• (vi) the PEPPERMINT oral care flavour ingredients have a peppermint organoleptic attribute;
• (vii) the INV oral care flavour ingredients are selected from the group consisting of citrus-lime ingredients (excluding lime terpenes and lime terpeneless), citrus-mandarin ingredients, citrus-grapefruit ingredients, spicy-pepper ingredients, spicy-clove ingredients, herbal-rosemary ingredients, green-grass ingredients, woody-resinous ingredients, herbal-coniferous ingredients, bergamot oils, 3,7-dimethylocta-1,6-dien-3-yl acetate (linalyl acetate), 3,7-dimethylocta-1,6-dien-3-yl 2-methylpropanoate (linalyl iso butyrate), (E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal (citral), lemongrass, Litsea cubeba oils, and mixtures thereof;
• (viii) the HMI oral care flavour ingredients are selected from the group consisting of citrus-orange ingredients, spicy-cinnamon ingredients, floral-jasmine ingredients, cooling ingredients, aromatic-wintergreen ingredients, lime terpenes, lime terpeneless, and mixtures thereof;
• and
• (ix) the HMP oral care flavour ingredients are selected from the group consisting of fruity-strawberry ingredients, fruity-raspberry ingredients, fruity-apple ingredients, fruity-banana ingredients, floral-freesia ingredients, floral-lily of the valley ingredients, animalic-butyric ingredients, acetic acid, and mixtures thereof.

A method of using an oral care flavour ingredient r in improving the relaxation state of a human subject, wherein the oral care flavour ingredient is selected from the group consisting of:

• one or more sweet-vanilla ingredients selected from the group consisting of 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde (vanillin), 3-ethoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (vanilla or ethyl vanillin), (4-formyl-2-methoxyphenyl)-2-methylpropanoate (isobutavan), 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (cresol), and mixtures thereof,
• one or more sweet-coconut ingredients selected from the group consisting of 6-pentyloxan-2-one (decalactone delta), 5-pentyloxolan-2-one (nonalactone gamma), 5-propyloxolan-2-one (heptalactone gamma), 5-ethyloxolan-2-one (hexalactone gamma), 5-butyloxolan-2-one (octalactone gamma), and mixtures thereof;
• one or more sweet-cooked sugar ingredients selected from the group consisting of 2-ethyl-4-hydroxy-5-methylfuran-3-one (homofuranol), 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyran-4-one (maltol), 2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyran-4-one (ethyl maltol), 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethylfuran-3-one (furaneol), and mixtures thereof,
• one or more fruity-passionfruit ingredients selected from the group consisting of (2R,4S)-2-methyl-4-propyl-1,3-oxathiane (oxane);
• one or more herbal-thyme ingredients selected from the group consisting of thyme oils and reconstitutions, 5-methyl-2-propan-2-ylphenol (thymol), origanum oils and reconstitutions, and mixtures thereof;
• one or more fruity-pineapple ingredients selected from the group consisting of pentyl hexanoate (amyl caproate), prop-2-enyl 3-cyclohexylpropanoate (allyl cyclohexyl propionate), 3-methylbutyl hexanoate (isoamyl caproate), methyl hexanoate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl heptanoate, 2-phenylethyl 2-methylpropanoate (phenyl ethyl isobutyrate), prop-2-enyl propanoate (allyl propionate), and mixtures thereof;
• one or more fruity-peach ingredients selected from the group consisting of 5-heptyldihydrofuran-2(3H)-one (undecalactone gamma), 5-hexyloxolan-2-one (decalactone gamma), 5-octyloxolan-2-one (dodecalatone gamma), 6-heptyloxan-2-one (dodecalatone delta), and mixtures thereof;
• and/or
• one or more herbal-spearmint ingredients selected from the group consisting of spearmint oils, (1R,5S)-2-methyl-5-prop-1-en-2-ylcyclohex-2-en-1-ol and (1R,5R)-2-methyl-5-prop-1-en-2-ylcyclohex-2-en-1-ol (trans- and cis-carveol) and (5R)-2-methyl-5-prop-1-en-2-ylcyclohex-2-en-1-one(L-Carvone), and mixtures thereof.