KNOW YOUR TONGUE & TASTES OF THE WORLD

Know your tongue & tastes of the world

Taste is detection of non-volatile substances by using receptors present on the tongue. Tongue is not, as was previously thought as a sort of map divided into different sections where we can exclusively taste specific flavour. In fact, we can taste any flavour at any part of the tongue which means any taste can be detected anywhere on the tongue. Talking of the taste most of us are familiar with four leading tastes viz., sweet, sour, salty & bitter. However, what may seek our attention here is that there is another fifth taste named as Umami. Word umami is taken from Japanese which literally means flavour. Umami is a kind of savoury taste & was first described in 1908 when it was found that a substance GLUTAMATE provides a sensation to the tongue which cannot be described under any of the category from sweet, sour, salty & bitter. Earlier it was not being accepted as a fifth taste until the Asian cuisine has gained its popularity in the western world. As Asian cuisines witnesses the use of monosodium glutamate in a significant amount, adding an umami sensation to the taste buds.

Taste	Chemical components	Products
Sweet	Glucose, Fructose, Aspartame	Sugars, icings, fruits etc.
Sour	Lactic acid, Phosphoric acid, Acetic acid	Lemon, yoghurt, Vinegar etc.
Salty	Sodium chloride(NaCL), Ammonium Chloride(NH4Cl)	Cooking salt, preserving salt(TCM) etc.
Bitter	Quinine, caffeine & phenols	Coffee, wine, beer etc.
Umami	Monosodium Glutamate	Chinese food.

Table showing five tastes, chemicals associated with the substances detected by the receptors on the tongue.

All most all of us must have heard of the taste buds which make us to like or unlike a particular food or a drink. Actually our tongue is covered with these taste buds all over. These taste buds are found on the taste papillae. The taste papillae are in folds on our tongue same ways as piles on a carpet or a towel. The papillae are of three different types as: -

The Fungiform papillae: - The fungiform papillae are mushroom shaped, sometimes called as mushroom shaped papillae. This type is located on the front two thirds of the tongue. These are embedded with an average of three taste buds each papillae.

 Vallate papillae: - These are also called as circumvallate papillae as they lie in V-shape on the rear part of the tongue. These are dome-shaped. They are embedded with an average of 250 taste buds each papillae.

Foliate papillae: - These lie along the length of the tongue & are also called as leaf-shaped papillae. The foliate papillae are embedded with a largest count of 1300 taste buds.

How actually we get the sensation of a taste?

At one end of the taste cells there lay small tentacles called as microvilli. These microvilli are in the contact of mouth cavity which means every nonvolatile substance which enters the mouth comes in contact with these microvilli for the sensation of its taste. On the other end these microvilli are in the contact with the nerve cells called as synapses.

On the one end of microvilli in the mouth cavity various proteins are present acting as receptors to the taste. There are different types of receptor proteins for detecting each of the fives tastes differently. As a result of series of chemical reactions arising from binding of various chemical compounds(shown in the table) the electrical potential of the taste cell changes for example when glucose comes in contact with the protein receptor the change in the electrical potential will activate the taste cell & information signal will be sent to the brain.

Why there is a variation in the taste habits among individuals?

With reference to the above explanation it reflects as every living tongue with same physical morphology must have same likes for edibles which is not justified in the real life situations. Actually the minimum level of a substance which initiates the reaction & activates the taste buds varies from person to person. The term is coined as flavour threshold which implies the minimal concentration of a substance which initiates the reaction & activates a particular taste cell.

Not everyone has same threshold value for the flavorings. Elderly people have higher threshold as compared to the young people which means elderly people will require a greater concentration a substance for detection of a particular taste.

·         The reason behind the phenomenon is that the taste cells break. Most of the cells in our body can reproduce & reconstruct but taste cells fall into a category which cannot perform the phenomenon of reproduction. As number of taste buds/cells diminishes, so does their effect. 

·         Smoking is another major reason for deterioration of the taste cells hence increasing the threshold for tastes.

·         Another factor for an increase in the threshold for a flavor is how often a person comes in contact of a flavour/taste. Frequent contact with a flavour increases the threshold for the same.\The phenomenon is called as habituation.

Activity: -Exercise to check your taste buds.

With a simple test we can determine if we are a poor, good or super taster. For the experiment we will be requiring

• ·         Paper punch
• ·         Cotton bud/ cotton
• ·         Piece of white paper
• ·         Blue food dye/colour
• ·         A magnifying glass

Method: -

• ·         Punch a hole in the paper
• ·         Dip cotton bud in the dye & rub the dye on the front of your tongue.
• ·         Hold the hole in the paper in front of your blue tongue & with the help of magnifying glass count the taste papillae through the area of the hole.

• ·         Fewer than 15 papillae determines poor taster, good tasters have 15 to 30 papillae & those having more than 30 papillae through the surface of the hole are considered as super tasters.
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****Thanks for reading****