Discover the 6th taste of humans

This taste helps people recognize the taste of carbohydrates and fat.

For a long time, we all know that the tongue can distinguish the main tastes including: salty, sweet, sour and bitter . Umami , the sweet and salty flavor often found in MSG is added to this list 7 years ago. And since then, this list of 5 tastes has never been changed.

New Zealand researchers have recently pointed out that in addition to identifying sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and acrid taste, our tongue has a sixth taste . It is the ability to detect carbohydrates - nutrients that break down into sugar and the main energy source for the body. Accordingly, carbohydrates have activated the brain region without being affected by artificial sweeteners, even when people only taste without chewing or swallowing them.

The sixth taste explains why some people like to eat fatty foods.(Photo source: shuttesstock).

Dr Nicholas Gant from Auckland University (New Zealand) said: "The mouth is a more sensitive organ than we think. The tongue in the mouth can distinguish carbohydrates and artificial sweeteners, even when they have the same taste ".

Gant and his colleagues conducted a trial with 10 volunteers. He asked them to rinse their mouths with 3 types of solution: a sweet carbohydrate solution - a carbohydrate-free sweetener - a non-sweet, carbohydrate-free solution.

After that, Gant will take resonances from the brains of the volunteers and compare the brain scan images obtained for research. As a result, when the study subjects rinse their mouth with a sweet carbohydrate solution, the visual area of ​​the brain, the feeling, with satisfaction, the activity of the muscle will activate more strongly than when using the two remaining solutions. again.

Previous research has shown that in some rodents it is possible to differentiate different sugars and energy densities in food. Therefore, a similar possibility may be proposed in humans.

Besides, using taste tests, Deakin University researchers have discovered that humans can perceive the taste of fat through chemical composition rather than by smell. them.

Humans can identify the taste of fat through chemical composition rather than their smell.

Keast and his team chose a number of volunteers to sample a variety of fatty acids found in regular foods, mixed with nonfat milk to hide their taste. The results showed that all 33 tasting people found the taste of the fat but at different levels all felt comfortable.

The finding also opens new ways to treat obesity because people who are "sensitive" to fat tend to eat less fat and have a lower body index. Keast said, like other types of taste, the level of sensitivity to fat also varies for each individual."I can be very sensitive to sweet tastes, while others may not have that feeling. And the fat taste is similar," Keast said.

Carbohydrates make up most of the organic matter on Earth because of their extensive roles in all life forms. The first is in the form of energy reserves, fuels and intermediate exchange. Second, ribose and deoxyribose sugars form part of the structure of RNA and DNA. Third, polysaccharides are the structural components of bacterial and plant cell walls.