UP

Scientists say they`ve found a sixth taste

Home page Society
12 Punto 14 Punto 16 Punto 18 Punto
Scientists say they`ve found a sixth taste

Wondering why a bread bowl full of pasta with fries on the side sounds like it would really hit the spot right now? It could be a heretofore unknown sixth taste that a group of scientists claims to have discovered, Science Alert reports.

Up until now, the five tastes humans were known to be able to sense were sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. According to New Scientist, it might be time to add "starchy" to that list.

Researcher Juyun Lim notes that "every culture has a major source of complex carbohydrate," be it rice or pasta or potatoes, and it "doesn`t make sense" that humans wouldn`t be able to taste those.

But because enzymes in our mouths break carbohydrates down to simple sugars, scientists always assumed we were just tasting sweet. Lim disputes that in a study published in Chemical Sense.

She found that people could pick out a solution containing carbohydrate chains—it tasted "like eating flour"—even when given a compound that blocked their tongues` sweet receptors.

That indicates that starchy is its own taste. It makes evolutionary sense that humans would be able to taste starch, which is an excellent source of sustained energy.

And this could also explain why we find starchy foods comforting, the Guardian reports. However, Lim and her team still need to find starch receptors on the tongue in order to qualify it as a primary taste.

Other scientists are looking into the possibilities that fat, calcium, blood, and more are their own tastes. (Penguins can`t taste the fish they eat.)

Date
2016.09.10 / 00:29
Author
Axar.az
See also

Baku hosts international conference on missing persons

UNESCO to mark First Turkological Congress

73 mines and 329 UXOs neutralized over the past week

Russia: All AZAL crash issues resolved

Turkic World Week ceremony held in Baku

Mirziyoyev hails First Turkological Congress

Rain expected in parts of Azerbaijan

Tokayev: Azerbaijan holds special place in Turkic world

Erdogan praises Azerbaijan's role in Turkic world

Ilham Aliyev addresses participants of Turkic World Week

Latest
Xocalı soyqırımı — 1992-ci il Bağla
Bize yazin Bağla
ArxivBağla