How do we Taste Things?

1. How do we Taste Things? Ms. Cox

2. Did You Know? • Your sense of taste works with your sense of smell to tell you about the food you eat. The sense of smell is actually much stronger than the sense of taste. Tasting relies on the sense of smell. As much as 85% of the taste of food actually comes from your sense of smell. • In order for food to have taste, chemicals from the food must first dissolve in saliva. Once dissolved, the chemicals can be detected by receptors on taste buds. Therefore, if there is no saliva, you should not be able to taste anything.

3. Did You Know? • Taste isn't only down to our taste buds - it also depends on how our brain reads the signals from our tongues. • The ability of a person to smell and taste depends on around 1000 genes, although half of these appear to be inactive. • A few years ago, scientists discovered that around 50 of these genes are active in some people while not in others and they believe that it is these genes that make some of us like some foods while the same foods make others want to vomit! • Every person is thought to have different genes switched on and off, leading to the presence of different receptors for different flavors.

4. The Magnificent Tongue

5. Parts of the Tongue • Your tongue also helps your body to fight infections. The back part of the tongue contains the __Lingual Tonsil__,which helps filter germs; together with the __Palatine Tonsil__(two masses of tissue on either side of the tongue) and the adenoids, these help fight infections throughout your body. (When you have tonsilitis, it's the palatine tonsils that are affected). The back and front parts of the tongue are separated by a V-shaped groove called the _SulcusTerminalis___.

6. Parts of the Tongue • It's on the front part of the tongue where the papillae are. There are four types of papillae, and all but one contain taste buds. These are the _Filiform (thread-shape), ___Fungiform__(mushroom-shape), ____Foliate__(leaf-shape), and _Vallate__(ringed-circle) papillae. • All papillae except the filiform (whose function is solely to help grip food) have taste buds on their surfaces. Just in front of the sulcusterminalis are the largest of the taste-bud papillae, the vallate papillae; there are between 8 and 14 of them

7. EEW! • Side Note: Stephen Taylor holds the world record for the world's longest tongue, which measures 9.4 centimeters from the tip to the center of his top lip.