What Should Pills Taste Like? You Choose!

In the second of our blog posts themed around our You Choose exhibition, research assistant Dr Claire Turner explores the taste of personalised pills.

If your pills could taste of anything, what would it be? Something sweet? Something fruity? What about minty? How would you feel if your pill tasted like a meal?! Let’s look at how people modified the flavour of their pills in the past…

One technique used to make pills more palatable was the process of ‘gilding’. This technique was used to turn pills into a silver or gold colour. The tradition itself dates to the ninth century when it was used in Arabic medicine. The process involved coating pills by rolling them in a very thin layer of gold leaf to hide their bad taste and/or offensive odour.

Gelatine replaced gilding as the main method of controlling the taste of medicines in the mid-nineteenth century. Gelatine capsules were developed by French pharmacists Dublanc and Mothes in a process termed ‘soft gel encapsulation’ in 1834. The use of gelatine masked the unpleasant taste of medicines at a far lower cost than the precious metals used in gilded pills.

Shortly after the introduction of gelatine capsules, manufacturers started sugar-coating pills. This was an even cheaper method of coating pills and quickly became the widely used method of masking the taste of medicines. This type of coating not only affected taste but also influenced how the medicine was released into the body. A sugar coat prevents moisture getting into pills, causing the medicine to break down too quickly.

Pills were also made more palatable using foodstuffs. Pills were sometimes hidden within food or were disguised as food. Popular foods used to hide pills included bread or wafer papers. Some medicines such as lozenges were made using chocolate to disguise their unsavoury flavour. These pills were particularly suited to children because the chocolate completely covered the unpleasant taste of the medicine, making it agreeable to their stomachs. By using chocolate to manufacture the lozenges, companies effectively disguised their pills as a form of food. This made the pills pleasant and familiar: consumers did not feel like they were putting an alien product in their body.

Everyone’s sense of taste is slightly different, but this is especially the case for children. Children’s needs in taking tablets differ from adults due to their increased sensitivity to the taste of substances including foodstuffs, drinks, and especially medicines. Children have very sensitive palates, and this sensitivity affects their ability to take and swallow medicines, particularly ones with an unsavoury taste. Children are naturally inclined to prefer sweet tasting substances. This preference is evident within hours of birth and is sustained through the process of the milk-based diet throughout infancy. This partly explains why children have a well-developed ability to detect and reject bitter tastes from an early age. Charles Darwin also observed that children’s taste differed from that of adults. 

Many children also carry a bitter taste receptor called TAS2R38, further contributing to their inability to stomach bitter tasting medicines. Due to their sensitive tastebuds, sweeteners are often included in children’s medicines. These sweeteners sometimes have additional benefits: they act as gelling or bulking agents and are frequently classed as emulsifiers. Sweeteners also drive acceptance of a wide variety of products. Research suggests that smell and texture are also important aspects of palatability in children’s medicines.  

3D printed pills by FABRX in You Choose 

3D printed tablets like the ones on display in You Choose can lead to greater acceptability, because they can be produced in a manner that prevents difficulty swallowing. This is particularly important for children and elderly people. 3D printers can produce chewable tablets that resemble candy to improve swallowability. Similarly, 3D printlets often dissolve quickly into mouths of children and elderly patients without need for excessive swallowing. It is also possible to make these medications taste pleasant, or at the very least reduce their unsavouriness. Dutch company ForTe BV have produced a taste masking technology entitled FlavoRiTe, which allows pills to be flavoured in a manner that disguises any bitter taste and makes them much more palatable. Recent research by FABRX, the pharmaceutical printing specialists who created the 3D printed pills on display in the exhibition, suggests that children prefer 3D printlets containing banana and vanilla rather than the classic fruity flavours of strawberry and orange.  

As part of You Choose, we offer you the chance to choose your own pill flavour! Using our bespoke interactive smelling station, you can choose from either chocolate, orange, or even french fries. So far, orange has been the popular favourite. 

As medical technology continues to advance, our exhibition probes at the many possibilities of flavour in medicine. From tasteless pills to multi-tasting pills, the limits are endless! What would you choose? many possibilities of flavour in medicine. From tasteless pills to multi-tasting pills, the limits are endless! What would you choose?