Transcript Taste Web Questions

Intro to Chemical Senses
Taste
& Food Choice
1. Explain why it is only partly true
to say the tongue is a muscle.

The tongue is made up of GROUPS of muscles.
– Some tongue muscles are inside the tongue,
make up most of the mass of the tongue, and
shape and move the tongue.
– Other tongue muscles begin outside the
tongue with only terminal (ending) fibers
inside it, and control its movement.
2. What does the
tongue do when you chew?
Moves food
around in
your mouth
 Pushes food
to the back
to be
grinded by
teeth

3. What’s the tongue’s job once the food is
chewed and mixed with saliva?
 Directs
small
amounts of
food into
the
esophagus
4. Can you really “swallow” your
tongue? Explain.

No, the entire tongue is anchored firmly to
the bottom of your mouth.

What really happens?
– The muscles that control the tongue
relax and the tongue can fall back,
blocking your airway.
5. When you
look at your
tongue in the
mirror you
can see
raised areas
or “bumps”.
What are
these raised
areas called?
 Papillae
6. Name and describe the 3 types
of papillae.

Fungiform:
– mushroom shaped

Foliate:
– leaf shaped

Circumvallate:
– shaped in a V
7. Describe the two
functions of papillae
Help
grip and move food
around
House taste buds
8. So, can you actually see taste
buds with the naked eye? Explain.
Taste
buds are collections of
cells on papillae and can not
be seen with the naked eye.
9. What is the difference in the structure between a
younger person’s tongue and an older person’s tongue?
How does this affect the sense of taste?

As a person ages,
the number of
taste buds
decreases
– As a result,
sensitivity to
taste decreases
10. Name the 5 types of taste.
Sweet
 Salty
 Bitter
 Sour
 Umami (savory, meaty)

11. Explain the relationship
between microvilli and taste buds.
Taste buds are made of taste receptor
cells
 Taste receptor cells have microvilli
– Sensitive, microscopic hairs on taste
buds
– Send chemical signals to brain
 The brain interprets the signals and
identifies the taste

12. Where do you actually
determine the “taste” of a food?
 Brain
13. How can the sense of taste
protect you from harm?
 Your
brain recognizes the taste as
a “bad” one and will reject
 Long believed that bitter taste
evolved as a defense mechanism
to detect harmful toxins in plants
14. What can make your taste bud
receptors less sensitive?
 Cold
food or
drinks
 Repeated
exposure
15. What does saliva do to help you taste?
 Breaks
foods
down, mixes and lubricates
– Ability to be swallowed
– Transports broken down products to the
taste pores
 It
is difficult to taste anything if the
mouth is dry
16. Does your tongue ever stop
working? Explain.
No,
even when you are
sleeping it is directing
saliva to be swallowed.
Taste and Nutrition?
People with taste disorders might not be
able to enjoy the fun of eating (lower
quality of life) and are at risk for other
health problems, such as poorly balanced
nutrition.
 Some taste bud research deals with
people who have lost their sense of taste,
who typically lose weight and become
malnourished.

Taste Disorders
Ageusia
(complete taste loss),
hypogeusia (partial taste loss),
and dysgeusia (persistent
abnormal taste).
Can smoking affect the structure of a
person’s tongue?
 Can
dull and
reduce the
number of taste
buds
 Quitting smoking
and weight gain?
Acquired Taste
 Repeated
exposure may
make a disliked
food less
disliked
Taste Facts
February 2005 was the first time scientists
were able to grow taste buds outside the
body and keep them alive for months.
 Just missing breakfast makes you more
sensitive to sweet and salty tastes.
– “Things taste better when you’re
hungry”
 Taste sensitivity is genetic.
– Bitter taste is extensively studied.

1. What substance is detected by
the taste called “umami”?
The amino acid glutamate and glutamate
compounds
– Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
 Common in Asian dishes, especially
Japanese

– Example: Soy sauce

2. When you look at your tongue you
see_____________, and they are made
up of __________ ____________ which
are made up of even smaller structures
called___________ ___________.
2.
When you look at your
tongue you see PAPILLAE, and
they are made up of TASTE
BUDS which are made up of
even smaller structures called
MICROVILLI.
3. How often does your body replace receptor
cells? What happens to this replacement schedule
as a person ages?
Approximately
every 10-15
days
This turnover rate decreases
with age, and therefore taste
sensitivity or “sharpness”
decreases
5. Besides your tongue,
where else are taste buds found?
Epiglottis,
Esophagus
–Places where there is contact
with food
6. What are olfactory receptors and how do
they affect your ability to taste?
 Area
inside of the nose that
contain special cells that detect
odors and send signals to the
brain to identify the smell
7. Explain the difference between a
taste and a flavor?
Taste: the detection and identification of
sweet, salty, bitter, sour
 Flavor: Flavor is determined by the aroma
(smell), taste (sweet, sour, salty or bitter
quality), texture, temperature and
spiciness (or irritation) of food and
beverages.
– All of these sensory experiences
together form "flavor.”

Smell Facts
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Scientists have found that the sense of smell is
most accurate between the ages of 30 and 60
years.
Women of all ages are generally more accurate
than men in identifying odors.
Seventy to seventy-five percent of what we
perceive as taste actually comes from our sense
of smell.
The average person can discriminate between
4,000 to 10,000 different odor molecules.
To identify the smell of a rose, the brain
analyzes over 300 odor molecules.
1 in 1,000 people are insensitive to butyl
mercaptan, the stinky smell of skunks.