Taste

Question 1

Taste

Answer 1

● Depends on number of variables with biggest variable being age
○ 20 year old may have up to 10,000 receptors
● All replaced every 10-14 days
● Number of receptors diminishes through time
○ Over age 70 have about 5,000 or less
○ Usually no noticeable effects
● We do not keep food we really like on our tongues for longer as we tend to eat these
foods quicker

Question 2

Taste

Answer 2

● Covered in papillae
○ bumps/ridges on tongue
● Most are sensitive to taste (except middle of your tongue)
● each papillae has 10 taste buds each with 50-ish receptors per bud
● Infections can cause “depapillation” like COVID-19

Question 3

Kinds of taste

Answer 3

● We can taste most flavors all over tongue
○ Except the center

Question 4

Umami

Answer 4

is considered 5th taste, trigged by glutamate

Question 5

Spiciness or false heat

Answer 5

chemicals trick brain into thinking you are eating something hot
in temperature

Question 6

Spiciness or false heat

Answer 6

○ Calcium channel on trigeminal nerve opens, also by actual heat
○ Capsaicin amount makes pepper taste hot
■ Pathway used to tell you food is spicy is same pathway used to tell you
food is literally hot

Question 7

False coolness

Answer 7

: some substances activate cold receptors (sodium channel)
○ Cold, fresh, minty
○ Tricks brain into thinking you are eating something cold

Question 8

False coolness

Answer 8

○ Toothpaste not refreshing if drink OJ after due too..
■ Stannous fluoride (compound of tin) reacts with acetic acid
■ Most toothpaste contain sodium sulfate which blocks sweet receptors for
a while
● So sugar from OJ is not tasted due to being blocked by sodium
sulfate, so you are tasting what OJ would taste like without any
sugar

Question 9

Metallic flavors

Answer 9

some cultures sprinkling gold on food
○ Could be tasteless or the metalsmay conduct voltage in mouth making things
taste better
○ Some meds/foods can produce a metallic taste
○ Have not found metallic receptor…yet

Question 10

Fat

Answer 10

do not have specific receptor for fat, umami explains fat taste

Question 11

Fat

Answer 11

○ Research found varying thresholds in humans in tasting fat
○ Subjects with high sensitivity to fat receptivity= less likely to overeat
○ Umami and salt receptors likely= fat receptivity

Question 12

Supertasters

Answer 12

● There are different responses to phenylthiocarbamide (PTC)
● ⅕ (20%) of population are supertasters
● 50% medium/regular tasters
● Around 30% non tasters
● Women slightly more likely to be supertaster
● African, South American, Asian individuals of either sex also more likely
● Supertasters appeare more sensitive to all tastes, not just bitter
● May be due to special receptos and/or extra receptors

Question 13

Central mechanisms

Answer 13

Taste is initially coded in the NTS in the medulla

Question 14

Central mechanisms

Question 15

Central mechanisms

Answer 15

To the thalamus next, which processes all other senses except smell

Question 16

Central mechanisms

Answer 16

Then to the insula (primary taste cortex)
i. Integrates w/olfaction

Question 17

Central mechanisms

Answer 17

Eventually synapse in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
i. What other senses might you think go there?

Question 18

1. Flavor vs. Taste, they are not the same thing

Answer 18

a. Flavor more complex than taste, involves olfaction and other
sensory information that gives more info to taste itself
b. Taste is just from taste buds